Airborne Wind Europe has endorsed an open letter – co-written and signed by 15 other renewable energy associations – on the need for the Clean Industrial Deal to have a “bold strategy to reinforce Europe’s Global Leadership in Cleantech and build a Competitive Net Zero Economy.”
PRESS RELEASE – European civil and cleantech society urges the Commission to deliver a bold Clean Industrial Deal to strengthen the EU’s cleantech leadership and net zero economy
Brussels, Wednesday 5th of February, 2025 – The EU Competitiveness Compass has made connecting decarbonisation and competitiveness a “strategic imperative” for Europe. This will be delivered by the all-important Clean Industrial Deal – the flagship policy package on which this new Commission hopes to upgrade Europe’s industrial base and tackle the climate crisis simultaneously.
16 European think tanks, civil society organisations, and industry associations, including Airborne Wind Europe, have sent an open letter to the Commission delivering a bold strategy to build strategic cleantech industries in Europe. The Clean Industrial Deal must incentivise industrial companies to integrate cleantech into their processes and shift to a decarbonised, circular and innovative business model. This strategy should be backed up by commensurate investments and de-risking instruments, to transform the vision of the Competitiveness Compass into concrete action.
This letter calls for the EU to turn the Clean Industrial Deal into an effective Joint Decarbonisation and Competitiveness Roadmap that closes Europe’s innovation- to-market gap. Facing unclear demand signals and a fragmented European market, the business case for innovative and decarbonised products remains too weak and volatile.The letter offers clear guidance on how to strengthen this business case – with a focus on three pillars:
- Access to clean, abundant, affordable and resilient domestic energy and its delivery infrastructure, which are essential for the growth of a sustainable industrial base.
- A European Cleantech and Industrial Strategy that delivers sectoral decarbonisation and competitiveness, fostering a vibrant European market for clean technologies, their production and their value chains.
- Unlocking private investment through a Cleantech Investment Plan with clear financial incentives and de-risking mechanisms to create robust, sizable markets that can drive the wide adoption of clean technologies in Europe and beyond.
Our 15 specific proposals, inter alia, provide a structure that will deliver fiscal headroom for Member States to boost clean investments, improve the EU budget, crowd-in private investments, create robust lead markets for the uptake of clean products, and strengthen Europe’s leadership in next generation technologies.
Kristian Petrick, Secretary General, Airborne Wind Europe:
The Airborne Wind Energy sector welcomes the Clean Industrial Deal to unlock investments, create lead markets for clean tech and put in place conditions especially for start-up companies to grow and compete while maintaining Europe’s decarbonisation goals and delivering on the 5% target for innovative renewable energy technologies set under the REDIII by 2030. The development of the Airborne Wind Energy sector can be seen as “litmus test” for the measures planned under the Clean Industrial Deal: They will not only provide evidence for the effectiveness towards deploying innovative renewable technologies but also provide the basis for unleashing the full potential of Airborne Wind Energy.
All undersigned organisations are open to explore our recommendations in more detail with you and your colleagues. To continue the discussion, please contact:
thoms@airbornewindeurope.org / jesus.carballo@airbornewindeurope.org