EU targets 40% of clean tech to be made within the bloc by 2030
The EU executive is considering a target that would see 40% of the bloc’s clean tech made in Europe by the end the decade, as part of a response to a wave of subsidies from the US and China.
According to a draft of the EU’s Net-Zero Industry Act, which is due to be unveiled next week, 40% of green tech needed to meet the bloc’s climate and energy targets should be made in the EU by 2030.
The 40% target, which could change before the draft is finalised, is part of Europe’s answer to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which offers $369bn (£311bn) of subsidies to green-tech manufacturers, as well as China’s long-running policy of lavish state support for the sector.
Some EU leaders have sharply criticised the IRA, arguing that it discriminates against European companies selling to the US and provides inducements for them to shut up shop in Europe and move production to America.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is expected to raise the issue when she meets Joe Biden at the White House in Washington on Friday.
Since the coronavirus pandemic exposed Europe’s shortfalls in medical equipment, there has also been momentum behind a push led by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for a “sovereign” Europe with a stronger manufacturing base, less dependent on foreign imports.
The EU is currently a net importer of net-zero energy technologies, according to the draft regulation seen by the Guardian. It notes that a third of electric cars and batteries and nearly all solar photovoltaic modules and fuel cells come from outside the EU, mostly from China. Even in areas where EU industry remains strong, such as wind turbines and heat pumps, “our trade balance is deteriorating and EU producers face headwinds of rising
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