Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 on establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s net-zero technology manufacturing ecosystem

What it is

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council. BACKGROUND: the EU has committed to achieve climate neutrality, including net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, by 2050. This objective is at the heart of the European Green Deal and in line with the EU's commitment to global climate action under the Paris Agreement. The Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) aims to scale up the manufacturing of technologies which are key to achieve climate-neutrality such as solar panels, batteries and electrolysers, among others, or key components of such technologies, such as photovoltaic cells or the blades on wind turbines. The Act will simplify the regulatory framework for the manufacturing of these technologies and therefore help increase the competitiveness of the net-zero technology industry in Europe. It will also accelerate the capacity to store CO2 emissions. Together with the proposal for a European Critical Raw Materials Act and the reform of the electricity market design, the Net-Zero Industry Act sets out a clear European framework to reduce the EU's reliance on highly concentrated imports. The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy adopted the report by Christian EHLER (EPP, DE) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s net-zero technology products manufacturing ecosystem (Net Zero Industry Act). The committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows: The amended text stipulates that the draft Regulation establishes the framework of measures to ensure a coordinated approach, throughout the Union, to the innovation and scaling up of the manufacturing capacity of net-zero technologies as well as of the components, materials and machinery along the supply chains of those technologies that are indispensable for their production and functioning in the Union to: - support the Union’s climate targets and climate neutrality objective; - foster the Union’s international industrial competitiveness in order to contribute to the creation of quality jobs; - improve the Union’s access to a secure and sustainable supply of net-zero technologies; - safeguard the resilience of the corresponding Union’s supply chains; and - achieve the decarbonisation of the Union’s economy and society. Members enlarged the scope of the proposed Regulation to include the components, materials and machinery along the supply chains of those technologies that are indispensable for their production and functioning. The meaning of ‘net-zero technologies’ has also been streamlined by the Members. The net-zero technologies within the scope of this Regulation should be, inter alia : - technologies used for production of energy from renewable sources; - nuclear fission and fusion energy technologies, including nuclear fuel cycle technologies; - carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and…

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