11 October 2023:
Flow Batteries Europe (FBE) welcomes the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) proposed by the European Commission on March 16th 2023. The EU’s primary objective through the Green Deal is to enhance competitiveness while simultaneously reducing emissions. To achieve this, the EU must boost the development and production of sustainable technologies.
The Commission’s proposal presents a list of eight strategic net-zero technologies, appropriately including battery and storage technology. This not only promotes targeted support and investment in these designated areas, but also prioritises technologies that have demonstrated their effectiveness in contributing to net-zero objectives. Nonetheless, we have profound concerns regarding recent developments proposed by the European Parliament, which if confirmed, could undermine the progress of the EU’s climate and energy action plan.
Additionally, the NZIA proposal lacks a concrete objective for the battery sector and adequate funding provision to enable the attainment of the goal of expanding the green-manufacturing capacity in the EU. Furthermore, a lack of coherence between EU chemicals legislation and the NZIA risks jeopardising the effectiveness of the NZIA. Below, FBE outlines its position on how to improve the proposal and to include a more comprehensive strategy for the battery sector’s development within the framework of the Act.
- Sector-specific targets: the EU should establish targets specific to each sector.
- Avoiding widening the scope of the NZIA: we urge EU institutions to retain a well-defined and concise Annex featuring the strategic net-zero technologies initially proposed by the European Commission.
- Specific funds: the European Commission should allocate specific funds to strategic net-zero technologies such as flow batteries.
- Ensuring coherence: the European Commission should work with the ECHA to ensure coherence between EU chemicals legislation and the NZIA.
Read our full position paper on NZIA proposal here.
