European Council meeting of Heads of State and Government yesterday agreed on the need for an ambitious European industrial policy to make Europe’s economy fit for the green transitions and reduce strategic dependencies.
Dries Acke, Policy Director at SolarPower Europe:
“European leaders have given President von der Leyen and the European Commission a clear mandate for a revamped European industrial landscape for renewables.
Solar PV supply chains are critically important for the continent’s prosperity, energy security, and climate goals. Around the world, countries are raising renewable industrial ambitions, and Europe must rise with them.
In the next weeks and months, Europe will see a first-of-its-kind industrial strategy for clean technology supply chains, like solar PV. This is a serious move and reflects the gravity of the global context and energy crisis.
This industrial strategy needs to be fit for purpose.
We’re calling for:
- A temporary relaxing of state aid rules, targeted to critical clean technology supply chains.
- A coordinated push for EU countries to wisely spend existing REPowerEU recovery funds on investments key supply chains.
- An innovative financing mechanisms to secure the new European Solar PV Industry Alliance target of 30GW by 2025. This could look like EU-wide tenders for solar manufacturing, which provides investment stability on a 10 year basis.
- The European Commission to adopt Green Public Procurement rules for solar PV, to create demand for sustainable European solar PV"*
SolarPower Europe recently joined forces with other renewables associations and organisations in a joint letter on Green Public Procurement - read here.
Questions? Get in touch
Bethany Meban
Senior Press and Communications Advisor
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