The Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) seeks to boost manufacturing, grow businesses, and create jobs in the EU, while supporting industry's adoption of cleaner, future-ready technologies.
In line with the recommendations of the Draghi report, the IAA introduces targeted and proportionate ‘Made in EU' and / or low-carbon requirements for public procurement and public support schemes. These will apply to selected strategic sectors, notably in steel, cement, aluminium, cars, and net-zero technologies, while establishing a framework that can be extended, where appropriate, to other energy-intensive sectors such as chemicals.
This will strengthen European production capacities and boost demand for European-made clean technologies and products. The Act includes a requirement for Member States to set up a single digital permitting process to speed up and simplify manufacturing projects.
The IAA aims to increase value creation in the EU, strengthening its industrial base against the backdrop of growing 'unfair' global competition and increasing dependencies on non-EU suppliers in strategic sectors. It therefore represents a strategy to support long-term economic growth, prosperity and security.
The IAA introduces ‘Made in EU' and low-carbon preferences in public procurement and public support schemes to boost demand for European industrial products — cement, aluminium to net-zero technologies like batteries, solar, wind, heat pumps, and nuclear. For steel, the Act proposes specific low-carbon preferences to create market demand. This measure will give investors confidence and predictability, boosting innovation and making clean steel a core part of the EU's industrial future. Strategic use of public funds will support investments in the EU, thereby strengthening access to low-carbon products and safeguarding competitiveness.
The proposed Regulation will be negotiated by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union before its adoption and entry into force.
Aniruddha Sharma, Chair and CEO of Carbon Clean, commenting on the draft legislation, said, "The Industrial Accelerator Act proposed today by the European Commission is a massive opportunity for Europe to reassert its leadership in clean technology. The provisions to streamline permitting for industrial decarbonisation projects, including deployment of carbon capture infrastructure at industrial sites, will remove one major barrier to deployment. Similarly, the creation of industrial acceleration areas, with favourable regulatory treatment for low-carbon and manufacturing businesses is a positive step which should reinvigorate industries across Europe."
"The IAA also recognises that we need to build demand for low-carbon products and takes a number of welcome steps to this end. In particular, the proposals to use the power of public procurement to support decarbonisation, and definition of low-carbon benchmarks for key materials such as steel, cement, and aluminium – and the potential to extend similar approaches to other energy-intensive materials over time – is vital for helping drive demand for low-carbon products."
"Local content requirements were a major topic of debate in developing the IAA and it is good to see that those adopted are proportional and designed to minimise disruption to existing geographically integrated supply chains."
"Working in tandem with other European initiatives, such as the Innovation Fund and Horizon Europe, the IAA can support Europe in becoming a leader in the manufacturing and deployment of low carbon technology, including carbon capture systems. It’s vital now that this legislation is passed swiftly, giving investors and businesses policy certainty.