The Green Deal Industrial Plan

EUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Brussels, 1.2.2023
COM(2023) 62 final
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE
REGIONS
A Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age
EN EN

1. INTRODUCTION: A GREEN DEAL INDUSTRIAL PLAN FOR THE NET-ZERO AGE
This decade will be decisive for the world to limit the rise in global temperatures and to
take the necessary steps towards net-zero. The stakes are high and the challenges complex –
but there is a once in a generation opportunity to use this imperative to act as a catalyst to invest
in the clean energy economy and industry of the net-zero age.
The European Green Deal sets in stone our green transition ambitions, including our
climate targets towards net-zero by 2050. The Fit for 55 package provides a concrete plan to
put the European economy firmly on track, with the REPowerEU Plan accelerating the move
away from fossil fuels. Alongside the Circular Economy Action Plan, this sets the framework
for the transformation of the EU’s industry for the net-zero age.
In the next few years, the economic shape of the net-zero age will be firmly set. New
markets will have been created, breakthrough clean technologies will have been innovated,
developed, and brought to market, and our energy systems transformed. Therefore, those who
invest first and faster today will secure their place in this new economy and create jobs for a
newly skilled workforce, rejuvenate industrial manufacturing bases, lower costs for people and
businesses and be in a prime position to support other parts of the world to decarbonise their
own economies.
The scale of the opportunity for European industry puts this need in sharp focus. The
International Energy Agency estimates that the global market for key mass-manufactured clean
energy technologies will be worth around USD 650 billion a year by 2030 (approximately EUR
600 billion) – more than three times today’s level. The related energy manufacturing jobs could
more than double in the same time period1. The net-zero industry globally is growing strongly,
to the extent of demand sometimes outpacing supply.
The EU is well equipped to step up and seize the net-zero opportunity. Europe’s economic
model, built on its Single Market, has brought rising prosperity over the past decades. Europe
is a leading player on innovation, venture capital and deployment of net-zero technologies and
sustainable products. It has a strong starting point – an industry with a track record as a proven
trend-setter and standard-setter, with growing levels of digitalisation. Manufacturing high
quality and innovative products that are used across the world. It has world-leading scientists
and researchers, consistently developing breakthrough solutions or refining existing
technologies.
The EU has also shown how the green transition can strengthen competitiveness. The phase-
out of Russian fossil fuels has accelerated a new industrial revolution aimed at ending the age
of fossil fuels. A wide range of new net-zero technologies is being developed and deployed
across our economy: in transport, buildings, manufacturing, energy, and even creating entirely
new markets. Our net-zero ecosystem was worth over EUR 100 billion in 2021, doubling in
value since 20202.
The EU has also proven its inbuilt resilience to continued change and challenge. Industry
is being challenged on everything from high inflation, labour shortages, demographic change,