Clean Industrial Deal must marry competitiveness with action: EU MEPs

A recent resolution by them, adopted recently in response to the European Commission’s Clean Industrial Deal plan, stresses the need to combine climate action with industrial competitiveness.

It underscores the importance of the newly established Industrial Decarbonisation Bank, which MEPs consider vital for scaling up investment in clean technologies. Investment should be based on carbon impact, scalability, and security of supply, they say.

The Parliament welcomed lead markets for European-made clean, circular and low-carbon products, and stresses the need to stimulate demand through public and private procurement, an official release said.

MEPs also called for protection of the EU market from unfair competition and the dumping of industrial overcapacity from third countries.

They underlined the importance of an effective carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) in the context of phasing out free allowances under the emissions trading system (ETS).

The resolution addresses the importance of regulatory simplification and the need to streamline permitting procedures to support the transition and innovation efforts of small businesses. MEPs want to simplify funding applications, reduce reporting obligations and fast-track small projects.

They also want to build the business case for permanent carbon removals in upcoming legislative reviews, as they feel carbon management, including capture, storage, transport and utilisation, may be necessary for hard-to-abate sectors.

MEPs support the action plan for affordable energy and demand measures to boost cross-border energy infrastructure and complete the energy union.

The current fragmentation of regulatory oversight and investment planning across member states is hampering integration and electrification, they say.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)