Debate: A Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 FEBRUARY 2023
Speaker: Mairead McGuinness
Language: EN

Russia’s war of aggression requires us to accelerate again this work, as Putin is weaponising his country’s energy exports in a failed attempt to weaken our resolve. But this is a difficult time for European citizens, for families and businesses. Europe is being tested by war, by geopolitical tensions, by trade rivalries and climate change. We need to show that we can step up to these challenges and we need to continue to show our resolve as we work towards 2030 and net zero by 2050. Half the emissions we need to cut by 2050 depend on technology not yet ready for market, or technology that does not yet exist. That is a challenge, but it is also an opportunity. The EU’s net—zero startups were worth over EUR 100 billion in 2021, twice as much as they were worth the year before, and that will keep growing: economic growth, competitiveness and innovation, on the one hand; sustainability on the other. These objectives are not in conflict. But we need the right environment in Europe to make sure these goals support and build on each other. On 1 February, the Commission presented a Green Deal industrial plan to make Europe the home of clean tech and innovation on the road to net zero. It is built on four pillars: the regulatory environment, financing, skills and trade. And I want to just briefly go through those four pillars. First, on the regulatory environment, this is about speed and access. We need to enable the clean—tech industry to scale up and to scale up fast. We know that companies complain that permitting is too slow and there are too many barriers to bringing innovations to market. So one of our main measures will be a new net zero industry act that will, for example, look at how to fast—track permitting for clean—tech production sites. Second, financing – money. We need to speed up investment in clean—tech production. We will adopt our state aid rules to speed up and simplify processes on a temporary basis for the decarbonisation of industries and for sectors we need to reach net zero. We will have easier calculations, simpler procedures and accelerated approvals. But we will also pay attention to the level playing field in the single market. Not all Member States have the same capacity to use state aid. As we mark 30 years of that single market, we should recognise the value of our state aid rules for all Member States, big and small. So our temporary rules will allow for time—limited, proportionate and targeted state aid where that’s necessary to roll out renewable energy, decarbonise industry and support investment in strategic sectors for net zero. Public funding is important, but it will not by itself be sufficient. The bulk of the money to fund green tax and clean tax will not come from the public purse, but from private investors. The US has the Inflation Reduction Act, but it also has thriving capital markets that secure the country’s competitiveness. Here in the European Union we need the same: we need the Capital Markets Union and we need to accelerate our work. And I want to thank colleagues in this House who are working hard on our proposals for CMU, because it is about allowing businesses to access more sources of funding as they start out. It’s about making sure that startups born in Europe can scale up in Europe. It’s about giving investors more opportunities to invest in different projects and companies, including green tech and clean tech. The third part of the Green Deal industrial plan is skills. We cannot do any of this work without the necessary people. We need people to drive the clean—tech revolution. We will need 800 000 skilled workers by 2025 in the battery industry; 1 million skilled workers by 2030 in the solar industry, twice as many as there are today. This is a chance to create well-paying, skilled jobs for the future. And this is the absolute priority in this European Year of Skills. Fourth, and finally, we are focusing on trade because we want to deliver net zero at the global level. We need strong and resilient supply chains to access raw materials, to open up markets for our products. We need an ambitious trade agenda, making the most of the deals that we have and closing deals that we are negotiating. So in closing, President, honourable Members, I know we face challenging times, but it is in times like this that the European Union does its best work. I look forward to your views on how we can turn this Green Deal industrial plant into a reality so that Europe reaches net zero by 2050 and leads the way as a net zero industrial powerhouse.