Faced with high energy costs and fierce and often unfair global competition, our industries need urgent support. This Deal positions decarbonisation as a powerful driver of growth for European industries. This framework can drive competitiveness as it gives certainty and predictability to companies and investors that Europe remains committed to become a decarbonised economy by 2050. The Commission is also taking actions to make the regulatory environment more efficient while reducing bureaucratic hurdles for businesses.
The Deal focuses mainly on two closely linked sectors: energy-intensive industries and clean tech.
- Energy-intensive industries as they require urgent support to decarbonise and electrify. The sector faces high energy costs, unfair global competition and complex regulations, harming its competitiveness.
- Clean Tech is at the heart of future competitiveness and growth as well as crucial for industrial transformation. Circularity is also a central element of the Deal, as we need to maximise EU’s limited resources and reduce overdependencies on third country suppliers for raw materials.
The Deal presents measures strengthening the entire value chain. It serves as a framework to tailor action in specific sectors. The Commission will present an Action Plan for the automotive industry in March and an Action Plan on steel and metals in the Spring. Other tailored actions are planned for the chemical and clean tech industry.
Affordable energy is the foundation of competitiveness. The Commission therefore adopted today an Action Plan on Affordable Energy to lower energy bills for industries, businesses and households. The Act will speed up the roll-out of clean energy, accelerate electrification, complete our internal energy market with physical interconnections, and use energy more efficiently and cut dependence on imported fossil fuels.
The Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act will increase demand for EU-made clean products, by introducing sustainability, resilience, and made in Europe criteria in public and private procurements. With the review of the Public Procurement Framework in 2026, the Commission will introduce sustainability, resilience, and European preference criteria in public procurement for strategic sectors.
The Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act will also launch a voluntary carbon intensity label for industrial products, starting with steel in 2025, followed by cement. The Commission will simplify and harmonise carbon accounting methodologies.
In the short term, the Clean Industrial Deal will mobilise over €100 billion to support EU-made clean manufacturing. This amount includes an additional €1 billion guarantees under the current Multiannual Financial Framework.
Critical raw materials are key for our industry. The EU therefore has to secure access to such materials and reduce exposure to unreliable suppliers. At the same time, placing circularity at the core of our decarbonisation strategy helps maximising the EU’s limited resources. The Commission will therefore:
- Set up a mechanism enabling European companies to come together and aggregate their demand for critical raw materials.
- Create an EU Critical Raw Material Centre to jointly purchase raw materials on behalf of interested companies. Joint purchases create economies of scale and offer more leverage to negotiate better prices and conditions.
- Adopt a Circular Economy Act in 2026 to accelerate the circular transition and ensure that scarce materials are used and reused efficiently, reduce our global dependencies and create high-quality jobs. The aim is to have 24% of materials circular by 2030.
