On 1 February 2023, the EU Commission presented a Green Deal Industrial Plan to enhance the competitiveness of Europe’s net-zero industry and to support the fast transition to climate neutrality. The Plan shall aim to provide a more supportive environment for the scaling up of the EU’s manufacturing capacity for the net-zero technologies and products required to meet Europe’s ambitious climate targets.

The European Green Deal Industrial Plan was already announced by EU Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen in her speech at to the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2023 as the initiative for the EU to sharpen its competitive edge through clean-tech investment and continue leading on the path to climate neutrality. It responds to the invitation by the European Council for the Commission to make proposals by the end of January 2023 to mobilise all relevant national and EU tools and improve framework conditions for investment, with a view to ensuring EU’s resilience and competitiveness.

The Plan builds on previous initiatives and relies on the strengths of the EU Single Market and is aimed to complement the ongoing efforts under the European Green Deal. It is based on four pillars: a predictable and simplified regulatory environment, speeding up access to finance, enhancing skills, and open trade for resilient supply chains. Under the first pillar, which a plan about a “simpler” regulatory framework, The EU Commission stated in its press release that it will propose a “Net-Zero Industry Act” to identify goals for net-zero industrial capacity and provide a regulatory framework suited for its quick deployment, ensuring simplified and fast-track permitting, promoting European strategic projects, and developing standards to support the scale-up of technologies across the Single Market. According to the EU Commission, this framework shall be complemented by a “Critical Raw Materials Act”, to ensure sufficient access to those materials, like rare earths, that are vital for manufacturing key technologies.