Representatives from the EU clean energy industry and EU policymakers met in Brussels today at the high level meeting of the Clean Energy Industrial Forum (CEIF) to look in particular at how to deliver on the EU’s renewable energy ambition and strengthen the EU's industrial competitiveness. In the second high level meeting since the CEIF was relaunched last year, industry leaders stressed the need to significantly accelerate the deployment of renewable technologies if the EU is to meet the objectives of the REPowerEU action plan and swiftly reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports from Russia. A number of speakers expressed optimism that the EU industry would be able to scale up its manufacturing to meet this need, provided that the necessary regulatory and financial support is in place to create the right conditions. Participants stressed the importance to address potential bottlenecks in global supply chains, as well as the role of the EU to deliver clear market rules, predictability for investors and accelerate permitting procedures. The forum discussed specifically the need for a qualified workforce – a necessary condition for the industry to increase production and deployment. To this end, it adopted a joint Declaration on skills to raise awareness on the problems linked to skills and workforce shortage in the clean energy sector. This declaration highlights existing initiatives and calls on all stakeholders to do more on this front. Background The objective of the Clean Energy Industrial Forum (CEIF) is to strengthen the industrial basis in Europe to support the clean energy transition and consolidate the EU's value chain for clean energy technologies, including issues related to system integration of renewables. The forum should identify possible obstacles to the scaling up of clean energy products and services, formulate recommendations and identify new actions and initiatives for key sectors and segments of the value chain where EU industries should be competitive at global scale to gain new market shares. CEIF was relaunched at the EU Industry Days 2021 and held its first high-level meeting on 3 December 2021. Documents Clean Energy Industrial Forum - Joint declaration on skills in the clean energy sector Related links Clean Energy Industrial Forum Details Publication date16 June 2022AuthorDirectorate-General for EnergyLocationBrussels
