Energy-intensive industries, such as the chemicals, steel, paper, cement, and glass industries, are crucial for the EU economy and for decarbonisation efforts, say MEPs in a resolution adopted on Thursday. These industries are vital for jobs and for Europe’s strategic autonomy but are facing challenges as they shift to cleaner technologies, they add. The resolution stresses the need for a cost-effective transition using various technologies to reduce energy costs and avoid lock-in effects, with electrification as a key strategy.
The text identifies several obstacles to EU industrial competitiveness, including energy price disparities with global competitors and volatile fossil fuel prices. An incomplete energy union, regulatory burdens, and complex funding mechanisms further hinder progress, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. The Emissions Trading System is also under pressure from market shifts and uneven revenue use across member states, which is hindering the rollout of adequate support for the industry’s decarbonisation, MEPs say.
Streamline permitting and address unfair competition
To address these challenges, MEPs call for faster permitting of clean energy projects and implementation of the electricity market design legislation, a better integrated energy system and more investment in grid infrastructure. Additional ways to decouple fossil fuel prices from electricity prices should be explored. MEPs add that the analysis of short-term markets should be advanced to 2025 with a view to considering alternative market design options.
Simpler rules and the availability of critical and secondary raw materials are essential to attract private investment and support decarbonisation while reducing our dependencies on other countries, they argue.
The resolution highlights the need to address unfair global competition through effective implementation of the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and to create lead markets for clean European products. MEPs also want to support affected workers and regions, ensuring EU industry remains competitive globally while decarbonising.
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“We have no time to lose: we need to act to ensure European industry can endure and protect its jobs. The technological innovation needed to accelerate the decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries requires substantial investment, which the EU has a responsibility to support with public resources,” lead MEP Giorgio Gori (S&D, IT) said. “In the meantime, these industries must be protected—from dumping, tariffs, unfair competition, and the subsidised overcapacity of other countries—to prevent carbon leakage and businesses leaving Europe.”
The resolution was adopted by show of hands.
You can watch Wednesday’s debate with the European Commission here.
Background
The resolution builds on previous reports and communications, including the Draghi Report, the Letta Report, and the Commission’s Clean Industrial Deal and Action Plan for Affordable Energy, to provide a comprehensive roadmap for the decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries in the EU.
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