- A strategic focus on priority sectors and clean value chains The IAA should remain focused on a limited number of sectors, technologies, and measures, prioritising those with the strongest contribution to EU climate objectives, economic resilience, and shared prosperity.
- Ensure public returns on public support Clean industries benefiting from public funding must generate clear public returns. Public support should therefore be conditional on robust social and environmental criteria, alongside local-content requirements, to guarantee a fair transition and uphold the EU’s high environmental and social standards.
- Strengthen cohesion across Member States The IAA should pay specific attention to territorial cohesion, ensuring that all Member States and regions have the capacity to support the development of clean industrial activities and to benefit from the transition.
- Design credible rules to call steel “green” A “green” label for steel must exclude fossil fuel-based production processes from being classified as “green” and reward genuine progress towards climate-neutral production. The label should support the EU business case for high-quality circular and renewable-based steel, and articulate with mandatory ecodesign rules developed under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), harmonising the “clean” steel definition to avoid the multiplication of industry-designed labels that favour specific production routes without delivering real environmental benefits.
- Anchor the IAA in existing EU climate and industrial frameworks The IAA must be firmly anchored in the EU’s agreed climate trajectory towards net zero emissions and build on existing legislation, rather than reopening settled files. This includes in particular: → Maintaining the timely phase-out of EU ETS free allocation by 2034 and the gradual phase-in of the CBAM; → Avoiding further “permitting simplification” measures that risk undermining public participation and environmental protection, and consequently triggering conflicts and litigation that would further delay the economic transformation.
“The Industrial Accelerator Act can add an important piece to the EU’s industrial policy puzzle, but only if it brings back the ‘D’: decarbonisation. Targeting the demand side to create additional incentives for energy-intensive industries to decarbonise is what Europe needs, but it will only work if it is anchored in already-existing climate laws. The IAA can deliver only if it builds on a credible carbon price provided by the ETS. Industry needs clear, stable rules to invest for the long term, not mixed signals that slow down Europe’s clean industrial transition.” Greg Van Elsen, Senior Industrial Policy Coordinator
“Commercial production of steel made with cleaner processes is soon becoming a reality. That makes it urgent to define what ‘green’ really means in steelmaking. The Industrial Accelerator Act should come up with a credible label that rewards real environmental performance and cuts dependency on fossil fuels, while not jeopardising the economic viability of steel production routes already more circular and decarbonised. It cannot be a way to greenwash and relabel fossil-based steel as sustainable.” Boris Jankowiak, Steel Transformation Policy Coordinator
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