EU Announces Clean Industrial Deal, but Green Groups Say ‘There’s Little to Turn Ambition Into Action’

The European Commission has announced a new Clean Industrial Deal it says will help industries like steel and cement make the transition to net-zero emissions. The commission says the sweeping legislative package will boost clean technology companies such as those making electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.

However, the EU executive has also weakened environmental reporting requirements for small- and medium-sized businesses, reported The Guardian.

The commission has said it will stay on target with its climate goals, but NGOs are seeing a different picture.

“EU policymakers seem increasingly detached from the triple planetary crisis we are facing. The so-called ‘Clean’ Industry Deal focuses on decarbonisation but overlooks broader pollution and environmental responsibility, failing to show how the EU can lead by example. Meanwhile, fossil-fuel-reliant industries that resisted change for decades have secured a front-row seat in shaping this deal,” said Christian Schaible, European Environmental Bureau (EEB)’s head of zero pollution industry, in a press release from EEB. “It’s alarming that the Commission claims the deal is ‘directly tailored’ to the ‘needs’ outlined in the Antwerp Declaration — a manifesto written by polluters, for polluters. EU industry is far more than just energy-intensive sectors, yet their interests are being placed front and centre.”

The Clean Industrial Deal reaffirms the goal set out in the 2020 European Green Deal of slashing emissions 90 percent by 2040. It contains 40 measures designed to speed up the transition to clean energy, including faster permits for infrastructure like wind farms, and altering public procurement rules so that they favor European-made clean technology, The Guardian reported.

“We think that the clean industrial deal is Europe’s business plan to tackle the climate crisis,” said Teresa Ribera, the European Commission’s executive vice-president in charge of the green transition. “We are not deregulating. On the contrary: we are coming to the implementing phase.”

The commission is planning to start an industrial decarbonization bank with approximately $104 billion in public funds, which could then leverage $416 billion indirectly from the private sector, it said.

Experts have pointed out that a global investment of hundreds of billions will be needed to build the networks of electric grids necessary to reach the world’s climate goals.

Ribera promised changes would be made to EU state aid rules to speed up industrial decarbonization and renewable energy.

“The 2040 climate target is the only cookie in the jar. The rest of the package crumbles under scrutiny. While the Clean Industrial Deal claims to put decarbonisation at the center, the devil is in the detail, and the high-level ambitions do not match the actual proposals. This is not what the Commission promised during the hearings last autumn. With the deregulation push and no concrete plan to mobilise genuine additional finance, there’s little to turn ambition into action. The only real urgency in the deal seems to be weakening the reporting rules, not ensuring companies contribute to a fair, competitive and climate-proof economy,” said Director of CAN Europe Chiara Martinelli in a press release from the NGO.

Business groups expressed broad support of the plan, while the European Sustainable Investment Forum said it created “legal uncertainty,” harming those who had already taken steps to comply or prepared reports, reported The Guardian.

German Green MEP Anna Cavazzini, chair of the internal market committee, said the directive on due diligence was being watered down and that “environmental crimes and human rights violations won’t be prevented.”

An “affordable energy action plan” with a goal of providing savings of roughly $270 billion annually by 2040 was published alongside the Clean Industrial Deal.

Lorelei Limousin, climate campaigner with Greenpeace EU, said the new proposal neglected actions like reducing energy waste that could bring down fossil fuel imports more quickly.

“This commission is vague on cutting energy waste while, to appease Trump, wants to invest in polluting gas infrastructure overseas that will keep Europe hooked on this expensive and dangerous fuel for decades,” Limousin said.