BRUSSELS — The European Union’s upcoming industrial decarbonization strategy will revolve around six thematic “pillars” ranging from energy prices and workforce issues to recycling and trade, a senior European Commission official told POLITICO.
The Commission is expected to unveil its much-anticipated Clean Industrial Deal, a multi-year plan to boost the EU’s traditional energy-intensive industries and emerging clean technology sectors, on Feb. 26, within the first 100 days of its new term.
While work on drafting the plan is still in the early stages, an outline is taking shape.
The official, speaking anonymously to discuss policies still being developed, said the six thematic areas include energy security and energy prices; financing; recycling and critical raw materials; labor and skills; lead markets; and global action. A second Commission official confirmed the themes.
High energy prices in the EU — relative to other advanced economies — are making it harder for companies in the bloc to compete with foreign rivals. The Commission intends to publish an “action plan” on affordable energy alongside the Clean Industrial Deal.
In her speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signaled that infrastructure will be at the heart of the energy plan.
“Not only must we continue to diversify our energy supplies and expand clean sources of generation, [but] we must also mobilize more private capital to modernize our electricity grids and storage infrastructure,” she said. “We must [also] better connect our clean and low-carbon energy systems. All of this will be part of a new plan that we will present in February.”
On financing, the Commission must square a tricky circle: While it cannot prejudge the outcome of high-stakes negotiations on the EU’s long-term budget, many companies and countries are expecting a funding boost for struggling industries.
On recycling and critical raw materials, the Commission will propose a Circular Economy Act next year to tackle resource shortages and reduce waste.
On labor and skills, the EU’s climate and competition chief, Teresa Ribera, has spoken at length — if not in detail — about the importance of social policy elements in the Clean Industrial Deal.
At an event on Monday, she said developing the Clean Industrial Deal “requires thinking in terms of skills, labor force and job opportunities.”
At another event last week she said: “Many of the problems we are experiencing right now … may be connected to the fact that there are many Europeans that feel that the institutions do not care about them. That we are speaking about business opportunities but we do not speak about social difficulties. That is very, very important.”
With lead markets, the Commission is referring to measures that create demand for decarbonized goods, such as setting quotas. One example would be mandating a certain percentage of climate-friendly materials in public procurement contracts.
EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told MEPs in the European Parliament’s industry committee last week that to help both emerging and traditional industries, “we need to make sure we come up with lead markets” as well as cut red tape.
As for the international element of the Clean Industrial Deal, Ribera signaled in Monday’s speech that the Commission would reach for a combination of diplomacy and trade measures.
“It connects back to the access to raw materials, to the development of relationships with [other] countries … to ensure secure value chains,” she said. “But it also comes back to trade relations and the mirror effect … when we invest abroad and when we open our markets to foreign investors.”
So-called mirror clauses in bilateral trade deals require that any imports from the other country “mirror” the EU’s strict environmental and production standards.
“We cannot think of building a Clean Industrial Deal and [manufacture] more in Europe and at the same time not make full use of our external policies and capacities,” Ribera said.
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