01 February 2023

Statement by President von der Leyen on the Green Deal Industrial Plan

We know that in the next years the shape of the net-zero economy and where it is located will be decided, and we want to be an important part of this net-zero industry that we need globally.

We just had in the College the adoption of the Communication on the Green Deal Industrial Plan. This Communication comes with the backdrop of the knowledge that we are living now in a decisive time – basically the decade that will decide on whether we are going to be successful in fighting climate change or not. And we know that, in the fight against climate change, what is most important is the net-zero industry. We want to seize this moment. We know that in the next years the shape of the net-zero economy and where it is located will be decided, and we want to be an important part of this net-zero industry that we need globally.

We have a very strong starting point as a European Union. You know that Europe is a leader on innovation and deployment of net-zero technologies. We have started three years ago, we were the first with the European Green Deal. We have cast our goals into law, we were also the first to do that. We have a detailed roadmap – that is Fit for 55. And from the very beginning, three years ago, we were very clear that we are convinced that the European Green Deal is our new growth strategy. I think I was 90 days in office, then the pandemic hit. This did not stop us. It is basically the contrary: We seized the crisis to move forward. You remember that we introduced NextGenerationEU. And in NextGenerationEU we have the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which consists of EUR 725 billion. We dedicated 37% of this RRF to the green transition. Actually, Member States even overshoot this target, they are now at 40%. So NextGenerationEU, due to the pandemic but with a clear focus on the green transition, was the first accelerator, if I may call it so, for our European Green Deal.

The second accelerator that we had was the Russian war of aggression and its triggering of the energy crisis. You recall that almost a year ago we were heavily dependent on Russian fossil fuels. Russia blackmailed us by threatening to cut the energy supply. Actually, they have cut 80% of pipeline gas in eight months only. We did not give in, we resisted. We decided to speed up the diversification away from Russian fossil fuels to other suppliers and, most importantly, to accelerate the investment in renewables. For that, we tabled REPowerEU in May last year. REPowerEU is focused on reducing demand, on increasing efficiency and, as I said, on accelerating the deployment and infrastructure of renewables. Actually, last year, we doubled the additional deployment of renewable energy. And for the very first time, we generated more electricity from renewables than from gas.

But this is only the beginning, because we now see the third accelerator in this story. We see that major economies are stepping up their investment in the net-zero industry – rightly so. If you look at Japan and the green transformation plans, they have now put forward EUR 140 billion through ‘green transition' bonds. If you look at India, they have put forward the so-called Production Linked Incentive Scheme: massive investment in photovoltaics, massive investment in batteries. The UK, Canada and many others have also put forward their investment plans. And the United States has passed the Inflation Reduction Act. Let me be very clear on this one: We welcome this, this is good news. We have long since argued that the fight against climate change is a must. A must for our planet; a must for our economic prosperity; and a must for our strategic independence. We are competitive, we need competition. What we are looking at is that we have a level playing field in the global competition as well as a level playing field within the Single Market. This is so important for us.

 

Commission

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