The European Parliament has passed a historic vote in favor of the net zero industry act, which aims to increase the production of technologies essential for climate change mitigation in Europe. This regulation will speed up the licensing process for strategic technologies and help European companies hold a global market share of 25 percent in these key technologies.
The EU Commission presented the proposal in March, which lists eight “strategic net zero technology” sectors, including solar electricity, wind power, battery and storage technologies, heat pumps and geothermal technologies, electrolysers and fuel cells, sustainable biogas and biomethane technologies, carbon dioxide capture and network technologies. The Parliament added nuclear fission and fusion, sustainable aviation fuels, and certain industrial technologies essential for Finland to the list.
Under this regulation, project approval should only take six to nine months. The EU Commission’s original proposal was criticized for not including wood bio-based materials in the scope of clean technologies. However, MEP Mauri Pekkarinen argues that this act will benefit Finnish forest industry and is not considered protectionist. Instead, it is seen as promoting the free internal market.
The vote received 376 votes in favor, 139 against and 116 abstentions. With this support from the European Parliament, Europe’s role in climate change mitigation technology is set to grow significantly.