EC announces new green deal energy development plan

Originally published at Europe in Review on March, 2023

The European Commission (EC) is planning new energy and industrial development legislation in response to the competitive pressures of the US Inflation Reduction Act, which provides tax breaks and subsidies that have led many European companies to plan new US investments.

Dubbed “A Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age,” the initiative would provide tax breaks and subsidies to ensure onshoring of manufacturing supply chains for renewable energy components, batteries, and related critical mineral processing. The EC announced the initiative on February 1. [EC]

The new initiative purports to significantly expand the RePower EU plan by expanding the European industrial base to ensure made in Europe solutions comprise the majority of new renewable energy infrastructure to be built under the plan.

Separately, the German Economy Minister Robert Habeck announced on February 21 that state bank KFW would provide large scale financial support for renewable energy projects to enable it to reach its target to derive 80 percent of national energy needs from renewable sources by 2030.

This planned shift under the new German “Energiewende” policy is especially significant given 75 percent of its energy is currently derived from fossil fuel. New subsidies are planned to support over 200 gigawatts of new wind and solar power generation. [U.S. ITA]

(rw/gc)