European Green Deal

Cefic has released its manifesto ‘Teaming up for a Climate-Neutral and Competitive Europe’ outlining its key priorities for the new EU institutional cycle. The manifesto emphasises the industry’s commitment to supporting the EU Green Deal and the importance of a legislative environment that facilitates the industry’s transition to 2050.

Our chemicals industry’s transition to 2050 represents the biggest challenge in our history as we go climate neutral, circular, digital and transitions to safe and sustainable chemicals. This comes at a time when EU industry is facing an unfavourable investment climate and high energy prices.

Over five priorities, our industry urges the new European Commission term to address these challenges and create favourable conditions for private sector investments which support Europe’s industrial transformation. The manifesto calls to:

1. Prioritise abundant renewable energy and raw material self sufficiency, including reliable energy sources, cross-border electrical power grid expansion, and partnerships with resource-rich countries. We also need to accelerate circular economy solutions to reduce dependence on imports.
2. Scale up renewable carbon and circular carbon feedstocks, including the scale-up of available technologies like chemical recycling and the development of a comprehensive Circular Carbon Strategy that incentivises Carbon Capture and Use (CCU) and biobased feedstock.
3. Make Europe attractive for industry investments, including boosting demand for low-carbon products, simplifying the State Aid framework, and establishing a competitive tax level across Europe.
4. Leverage the Single Market for the Transition, including measures to address increased fragmentation caused by national implementation of EU legislation.
5. Make the innovation framework smarter, including fostering high-quality science, technological innovation, and collaborative policies that prioritise openness and pragmatic outcomes while embracing innovative approaches like regulatory sandboxing.

Our EU industry looks forward to continuing its fruitful collaboration with policymakers and all stakeholders, by providing expertise and scientific knowledge to support effective and balanced policies. In doing so, we believe we can achieve the European Green Deal and maintain a thriving and competitive EU chemicals industry.

Read the Manifesto HERE.

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