Publications » Position papers » Energy-intensive industries should be at the heart of the Green Deal Industrial Plan
Energy-intensive industries should be at the heart of the Green Deal Industrial Plan
Downloads and links
Recent updates
01 February 2023 - Energy-intensive industries (EIIs) provide direct employment to around 2.6 million people and represent the foundations of critical and strategic value chains for the EU economy and society. We welcome the renewed attention to the competitiveness of the EU industry vis à vis its international competitors as a key enabler of the energy transition and essential to create long-term and sustainable growth for the EU economy and EU citizens.
In particular it should be acknowledged that:
• EIIs are central to providing products, material and affordable energy to strategic renewable and low-carbon value chains. To preserve their competitiveness is therefore essential to: reduce dependencies on imported products, boost a sustainable long-term growth of the EU economy as well as to contribute to the reduction of emissions globally.
• To achieve these objectives it is essential to develop a comprehensive and coherent financial framework based on support for strategic value chains and with a strong focus on EIIs, as these are enablers of the transition to a circular and climate-neutral European economy.
• The Green Deal Industrial Plan should take the example of the IRA. It shows that it is possible to have a proactive industrial policy providing support to long-term investments based on the technologically neutral principle and on a full value chain approach.
• It is fundamental that the EU re-assesses its industrial policy focusing on international competitiveness and develop a business-friendly legislative framework reducing the red-tape, attracting investments, ensuring policy coherence and legal certainty.
• A strong focus should be put on the decarbonisation of energy-intensive sectors, through a focus on a wide range of technologies (such as hydrogen, carbon capture, utilisation and storage, low-carbon products) and the development of the related infrastructure.
• European companies have been already suffering from soaring energy prices, which risk widening the imbalance in terms of competitiveness with the US and other competitors if high energy costs remain persistent. The strategy must contain measures to ensure access to affordable, renewable and low carbon energy for industry's decarbonisation.
• The financial and support legislative framework should be re-assessed and improved through the: simplification of the conditions to access to EU funds, especially for EIIs; creation of new supporting schemes based on the technologically neutral principle and the reduction of the administrative and compliance costs for the EU industries.
We remain ready to engage with the Commission, Parliament and Member States to achieve successful outcomes for European Energy Intensive Industries and our many stakeholders across European Society.
Brussels, 13 September 2023 – The European steel sector welcomes the vision for a renewed Industrial Strategy set out by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the State of the Union address. Relaunching Europe’s industrial engine with concrete measures in all relevant policy areas should be both a core mission for the final year of this legislature and a top priority for the future EU executive. The European steel sector, which has launched over 60 industrial-scale decarbonisation projects, stands ready to engage with the Commission to develop and implement the urgent actions needed to boost the whole European cleantech ecosystem, says the European Steel Association.
Brussels, 11 September 2023 – The European metals industry, including both ferrous and non-ferrous metals, has initiated the process to establish its own EU Transition Pathway* in collaboration with the European Commission. The metals sector plays a pivotal role in facilitating the EU’s green and digital transitions by enabling several strategic value chains at the core of the clean tech economy. The objective of this comprehensive plan is to ensure the sustainability and resilience of the metals sector, aligning it with the overarching objectives of the EU twin transition.
Brussels, 16 August 2023 – On 14 August, the Commission initiated two anti-circumvention investigations regarding possible circumvention via Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam of the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures imposed in 2021 and 2022 against imports of stainless steel cold rolled flat products from Indonesia. EUROFER welcomes the openings and the immediate registration of the imports from those countries towards a possible retroactive application of the existing duties.