Net-Zero Industry Act

The Act also simplifies the regulatory framework for the manufacturing of these technologies. This will help increase the competitiveness of the net-zero technology industry in Europe and also accelerate the capacity to store CO2 emissions.

The Act addresses technologies that will make a significant contribution to decarbonisation. It supports, in particular, strategic net-zero technologies that are commercially available and have a good potential for rapid-scale up. Such technologies strengthen the EU’s industrial competitiveness and energy system's resilience while allowing the clean energy transition.

On 6 February 2024, the European Parliament and the Council reached a political agreement on the Net-Zero Industry Act. Once formally adopted, the Act will enter into force. 

Other net zero technologies are also supported by the measures in the act, including sustainable alternative fuels technologies, advanced technologies to produce energy from nuclear processes with minimal waste from the fuel cycle, small modular reactors, and related best-in class fuels.

Creating the conditions for an EU clean-tech sector at pace with global trends

By 2050

To stimulate investment into net-zero technologies, the Act proposes:

• Net-zero Strategic Projects: identifying priority projects essential for reinforcing the resilience and competitiveness of the EU net-zero industry
• Cutting red tape and accelerated permitting: lowering administrative burden for developing net-zero manufacturing projects and simpler and faster permitting procedures. This is particularly for strategic projects which will benefit from even faster permitting, to increase planning and investment certainty.
• CO2 injection capacity: supporting carbon capture and storage projects, notably by enhancing the availability of CO2 storage sites
• Attracting investment: attracting investment through the Net-Zero Europe Platform and the European Hydrogen Bank
• Facilitating access to markets: boosting demand for renewables by implementing sustainability and resilience criteria in procurement procedures and auctions
• Innovation: establishing regulatory sandboxes to help develop and test innovative net-zero technologies and create a level-playing field for innovation
• Enhancing skills: setting up Net-Zero Industry Academies, with the support and oversight by the Net-Zero Europe Platform. These will provide training and education on net-zero technologies, and lead to quality jobs creation.

The Net-Zero Europe Platform will help oversee all the measures under the Act. It will bring together the European Commission and Member States, to coordinate and discuss the proposed actions. Industry representatives and other experts can be invited to the Platform.

The first pilot auctions will be launched under the Innovation Fund in the autumn of 2023 supporting renewable hydrogen production. This sends a clear signal that Europe is the place for hydrogen production.

The EU has committed to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, but it is currently a net importer of several net-zero technologies and components that are key to achieve this objective. The Commission has therefore proposed the Net-Zero Industry Act as part of the Green Deal Industrial Plan to ensure that the green transition is not put at risk by strategic dependencies. By setting an aggregate manufacturing capacity objective for 2030 and simplifying the regulatory framework for net-zero technologies, the Act will allow the EU to become an industrial leader in this market. Learning from the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy crisis, the Act will make sure that supplies chains will no longer face disruptions and that the clean-energy transition will be underpinned by the domestic manufacturing capacity that's needed.

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