Publications Europe

Net Zero Industry Act: Europe in the race for cleantech

17 March 2023 - Foreword of the week - By : Thomas PELLERIN-CARLIN / Claudine FOUCHEROT / Anuschka HILKE

The European Union still has a lot of work to do. Yesterday the European Commission published its Net Zero Industry Act, a piece of its response to the American Inflation Reduction Act, a necessary but still insufficient building block to keep the European Union in global cleantech race. It will also have to complete a number of directives and regulations to deliver its Green Deal. The EU election in 2024 is fast approaching, time is of the essence. 

 

This week, I4CE offers you an overview of its research work on EU policies. In our newsletter, you will discover our latest analyses and a new OpEd by Thomas Pellerin Carlin on European cleantech investments.

 

#OpEd

Europe needs an investment plan to win the global cleantech race

As anyone who has marvelled at professional cyclists vying for position knows, the decisions competitors take challenges the strategy of those following close behind. Since August 2022 and the US Inflation Reduction Act, it’s safe to say the global cleantech race has moved up a gear. In the marathon that is the global cleantech race, the EU benefits from the most developed set of climate regulations and carbon pricing in the world. However, it lacks the investment plan that China and the US now have on offer, according to Thomas Pellerin Carlin from I4CE in this oped for Euractiv.

 

Read the OpEd

 

#InvestmentPlan

Building an EU Cleantech Investment Plan to match the US Inflation Reduction Act

 

This I4CE brief published few weeks ago argues that the best EU policy answer to the Inflation Reduction Action is an EU longterm climate investment plan. As the political appetite for such a plan is currently limited, the European Commission should use the political momentum to propose a targeted investment plan that focuses on the development, scale-up, manufacturing and deployment of clean technologies in the EU. It identifies three first bricks that can already be laid out to build this plan.

 

Read the climate brief

 

 

#CarbonCertification

Carbon certification: the commission publishes a stringent certification framework that should also be appealing

The future European carbon certification framework is the subject of heated debate. Beyond the criticisms of the expert group responsible for assisting the Commission, the purpose of this future certification raises questions: will it only be used for voluntary compensation? The Commission remains vague at this stage and, worried, the NGOs instinctively put the brakes on. They insist on the risks of the long-term non-permanence of carbon stored by soils and forests, as do the CCS industrialists. An unlikely alliance that could lead to the exclusion of natural carbon sinks from future certification. We invite you to read this blog post on the Commission’s carbon certification proposal by Claudine Foucherot from I4CE.

 

Read the blog post

 

#TransitionPlans

Climate transition plans for banks: EU legislators on a razor’s edge

 

The requirement for climate transition plans for banks is making its way into the regulatory debate. It could be a game changer in terms of climate risk management and the alignment of financial flows towards the climate transition of the economy. But if the principle of transition plans is taken up by the Commission, the Council and the Parliament, the exact wording differs in terms of ambition and clarity. In this OpEd, Anuschka Hilke from I4CE identifies three parameters that need to be clarified in the trialogue negotiations for these plans to make a real difference.

 

Read the OpEd

 

Read the newsletter

To learn more
  • 09/05/2025 Foreword of the week
    2030 and Beyond: Budgeting Europe’s Climate Transition

    The next long term EU budget will take us through the 2030 goal posts, by when GHG emissions should be down by 55%. It will also lay the groundwork for investing in a climate-neutral future for the continent towards the yet-to-be agreed objectives for 2040. So, when the European Commission presented its proposal for a €2 trillion multiannual financial framework (MFF) just before the summer break, there was good reason to carefully study the details from the perspective of closing the EU’s climate investment deficit.  

  • 09/03/2025
    State of EU progress to climate neutrality – ECNO 2025 Flagship report

    Europe is making progress on the clean transition, but the pace is too slow across several parametres. ECNO’s analysis is structured around 13 building blocks of the transition, tracking changes in the six-year trend for nearly 150 indicators and also the expected impact of policies – a new addition to this year’s report. In the 2025 edition, we also analysed the changes through the lens of broader EU objectives, namely competitiveness, resilience, and citizens’ well-being. 

  • 07/24/2025 Blog post
    Can the next EU budget point the way to an investment plan for climate transition?

    In July, Commission President von der Leyen announced a €2 trillion EU budget fit “for a new era,” set to launch for a seven-year period in 2028. As EU-watchers in Brussels and beyond scrambled to digest the reams of legislative proposals that followed this headline-grabbing announcement, much in the detail should give pause – especially from the perspective of closing the EU’s climate investment deficit.

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