The European Commission is expected to publish its proposal for an Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), the first legislative initiative under the Clean Industrial Deal.

The Act aims to speed up the decarbonisation of Europe’s energy-intensive industries, like steel, cement, chemicals, paper and aluminium, while supporting the deployment of clean technologies in the EU.

But in a late twist, it seems that any emissions label for steel in the upcoming “made in Europe [sic]" ‌law, could be dropped, a blow to low-carbon steelmakers wishing to compete globally.

The intention of the IAA is to introduce a new set of policy tools to speed up decarbonisation by: streamlining permitting, improving access to clean energy and supporting low-carbon projects, with easier access to funding. It also seeks to link decarbonisation and competitiveness effectively by creating a lead market strategy for clean industrial products, including a label for green steel.

“A well-crafted Industrial Accelerator Act is a real chance to shift the EUs industry and make it clean and future-proof. But it will only work if it puts a bold lead-market strategy at its centre. The Commission must use this opportunity to create real demand for clean materials such as green steel if it wants to secure its industrial future and stay competitive in the long-term,” said Camille Maury, senior policy officer on industrial decarbonisation at WWF EU.

“The IAA was meant to be the backbone of Europe’s industrial decarbonisation strategy,” said Bergur Løkke Rasmussen, director of CCS Europe. “In its current form, however, it fails to send the durable demand and investment signals needed to give CCS and CO₂ infrastructure legs.”

CCS Europe expanded on the criticism, saying that although it recognises that the Act includes low-carbon requirements for certain materials and provisions on green public procurement, public procurement alone will not deliver the market pull required to scale industrial decarbonisation at the speed and scale set out in EU objectives, especially without a robust Union framework that makes low-carbon products comparable and investable across value chains.

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