Innovation
Industrial Accelerator Act
cepPolicyBrief
“The Industrial Accelerator Act, originally planned as a decarbonisation booster, has developed into a controversial mix of industrial policy and demarcation from China,” says cep industry expert André Wolf. “In its current form, the legislation appears ambivalent: on the one hand, the EU wants to promote the green transformation; on the other, it is desperately trying to preserve existing industrial structures through rigid targets and local content quotas.”
Wolf is particularly critical of the aim to secure a minimum share of industries in EU value added, as this goal has little to do with climate protection. The new rules for public procurement and funding programmes also appear contradictory: “On the one hand, the EU seeks to push for green lead markets; on the other, the pool of suppliers is geographically restricted by origin requirements, which hinders the global scaling of technological solutions for the climate crisis.”
Instead of closing itself off, the EU should open up green lead markets to all suppliers that meet high environmental standards. Local content requirements should only be set for essential emerging growth technologies where Europe is heavily dependent on individual external supplier countries. Investments should be assessed based on how much technological knowledge they bring to Europe – regardless of the country of origin. The aim should be bold modernisation that focuses on genuine fields of the future, rather than merely managing the status quo.
Background
With the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), the European Commission aims to strengthen the competitiveness of European industry on the path to climate-neutral production by 2050. This requires massive investment in low-emission production technologies. However, their profitability is jeopardised by factors such as high energy costs, fierce global competition and strict regulatory restrictions. At the same time, there is a lack of domestic production capacity for low-emission technologies. As a result, decarbonisation comes at the expense of competitiveness.
