On 16 March, the European Commission published two new acts: the Net-Zero Industry Act and the European Critical Raw Materials Act. These two new acts, which introduce new regulations, will be of strategic importance to cities joining the second phase of the Intelligent Cities Challenge as they are pursuing the green and digital transition,
President Von der Leyen announced that these two acts, part of the Green Deal Industrial Plan, help define a clear European framework to reduce the EU’s reliance on highly concentrated imports.
The Net-Zero Industry Act
The Net-Zero Industry Act aims to promote the use of clean technologies within the EU and equip it for the clean-energy transition. The regulation will ensure better conditions to set up net-zero projects in Europe and attract investments. Other positives include: accelerating progress towards the EU’s 2030 climate and energy targets, transitioning to climate neutrality, boosting competitiveness of EU industry, creating quality jobs and supporting EU’s efforts to be energy independent.
The proposed legislation for Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) aims to scale up clean technology manufacturing in the EU with a target to provide at least 40% of the EU’s annual deployment needs for strategic net-zero technologies by 2030. These strategic net-zero technologies include solar, wind, batteries and storage, heat pumps and geothermal energy, electrolysers and fuel cells, biogas/biomethane, carbon capture and storage, and grid technologies.
More information about the Net-Zero Industry Act can be found here.
The European Critical Raw Materials Act
The European Critical Raw Materials Act introduced measures to guarantee the EU’s access to critical raw materials; this is vital for the net-zero industry, the digital industry, aerospace, and defence sectors. Indeed, as the EU relies heavily on imports, the need to mitigate the risks coming with such strategic dependencies is becoming more urgent. The proposed European Critical Materials Act will leverage the strengths and opportunities to enhance the resilience of EU critical raw materials supply chains.
More information on the European Critical Raw Materials Act can be found online.