Brussels, 4 March 2026 – After a long winter of delays, the European Commission finally presented its Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) today. CAN Europe acknowledges the importance of the IAA, as it complements the policy toolbox for industrial decarbonisation on the demand side. However, additional efforts will still be needed to deliver rapid and concrete results to build a clean and competitive European industry. A “made-in-Europe” strategy only makes sense in sectors with significant decarbonisation potential, while also delivering added resilience and strong job creation prospects. At the same time, it must be designed in a way that supports, rather than undermines, global decarbonisation efforts. We call on Member States and the European Parliament to ensure the Act delivers on prosperity, climate ambition and EU economic resilience.
Demand signal: the missing link for industrial decarbonisation
The Industrial Accelerator Act presented today sends initial signals towards creating lead markets for green products, by providing a guaranteed demand for clean production. CAN Europe welcomes such demand-side measures that are filling a gap in the industrial policy toolbox. Yet, lead markets and demand-side measures cannot operate in a vacuum. They should be additional to other supply-side incentives, such as the ETS carbon price, around which progressive businesses have built their business case.
Greg Van Elsen, Senior Policy Coordinator on industrial policy at CAN Europe, said:
“A successful industrial policy that is resilient in the long term needs both ETS and IAA to build a future-proof industry and we see some incumbents still pushing to mute this carbon price signal. This approach risks triggering decarbonisation leakage instead of having clean industry choosing to develop their projects within the EU.”
Conditionality for public support
In CAN Europe’s view, public support to companies should always come with strong social and environmental conditions to ensure that public funds trigger positive societal benefits.
Boris Jankowiak, Steel Transformation Policy Coordinator at CAN Europe, said:
“It is encouraging to see the systematic application of low-carbon criteria in public procurement and support for energy-intensive products.However, the thresholds should be set at a higher level of ambition, reflect low-carbon investments already underway in the EU, and increase over time. This ensures that as low-carbon production in Europe scales up, policy continues to drive higher ambition. At the same time, social conditions are essential to guarantee that the clean economy delivers quality jobs. While the Commission has introduced a worker-retention mechanism linked to foreign direct investment, broader and more robust social safeguards are still missing from the Act”
Steel: policy consistency does not cancel urgency
In the Act presented today, the European Commission ultimately did not include the voluntary label for steel products that was initially planned. CAN Europe views this development with caution. On the one hand, the delegated act on ecodesign rules for iron and steel products was already in the making and could prove more ambitious than a voluntary label focused solely on greenhouse gas emissions. In this sense, using existing legislation that already has a general framework helps to ensure consistency and articulation across all EU policy tools. On the other hand, steelmakers – especially progressive industries – urgently need clarity and a credible definition of “green steel” to ramp up clean primary steel value chains in Europe.
Boris Jankowiak, Steel Transformation Policy Coordinator at CAN Europe, said:
“We hope that the Commission did not kick the can further down the road but intends to move at speed and with ambition on the Ecodesign Regulation delegated act. Giving certainty to clean frontrunners and disqualifying the use of fossil fuels for green steel is essential for the sector’s long-term resilience.”
For more information and media requests:
- Margaux Barrett, Communications Coordinator, margaux.barrett@caneurope.org, +32 470832725
- Jani Savolainen, Senior Communications Coordinator, jani.savolainen@caneurope.org, +358 504667831