ON THE NET-ZERO INDUSTRY ACT

Commenting on the Commission’s proposal for a ‘’Net-Zero Industry Act , Baptiste Buet, Director of the EU Business Unit at EIT InnoEnergy, said:

“We sit at heart of the key technologies that the act will seek to support. EIT InnoEnergy invests early and brings start-ups to industrial scale, faster and de-risked. Our mission is to accelerate the energy transition through innovation, with European made technologies.

“The Net-Zero Industry Act confirms that our strategy and our model are aligned with the EU goals, as demonstrated through our leadership of the European Battery Alliance and of the European Solar PV Industry Alliance.”

“The Net-Zero Industry Act promises to deliver a regulatory framework for the scale-up of key climate technologies across Europe. EIT InnoEnergy welcomes this ambition to streamline and accelerate strategic industrial value chains across the continent.”

“This tailor-made support will galvanise strategic climate technology sectors and provide the assurance investors and start-ups need to double-down in a market they know will support them to flourish.”

“With the proposed Net-Zero Industry Act, the EU has an opportunity to set a global standard for a business environment conducive to investments in climate technologies. The proposals by the European Commission are a big step forward but speed and simplicity will be the benchmark of successful implementation. Time is of the essence in the global competition for climate technologies.”

“At EIT InnoEnergy, we believe that the EU must put sustainability at the heart of its industrial strategy for climate technologies. Europe’s competitiveness will be based not only on price, but on the sustainability, circularity and traceability of any climate technology value chain or product. This will retain and attract the right players and investors to Europe. For this, we should consider rewarding best performance in sustainability with incentives.”

On access to funding

Commenting on how the EU Green Deal Industrial Plan aims to accelerate access to funding, Baptiste Buet, Director of the EU Business Unit at EIT InnoEnergy of EIT InnoEnergy, said:

“The big economies across the world have ramped up significantly their financial incentive schemes for climate technology manufacturing. We welcome the EU initiative to upgrade the EU attractiveness for investments. Being able to catalyse private investments with public finance is one of the many dimensions for Europe to be successful in that global race.”

“That is why EIT InnoEnergy welcomes the decision to redirect existing EU funds to finance industrial scaling up of climate technologies. It is consistent with the purpose to accelerate a green economic recovery.”

“Our current equity portfolio of over 180 companies have an aggregated need of EUR160bn of extra financing until 2030 to meet their industrial objectives – a tremendous technology and industrial leadership opportunity for Europe that will deliver growth and jobs.”

On the critical Raw Materials Act

Commenting on the Commission’s proposal for a ‘Critical Raw Materials Act’, Baptiste Buet, Director of the EU Business Unit at EIT InnoEnergy, said:

“A value chain is only as strong as its weakest link. For batteries, access to raw, processed, and recycled materials is that weak link. Therefore, we welcome the proposal of the European Commission to prioritise strategic materials, set targets for extraction, processing and recycling capacities in Europe and make project development easier and faster.”

“We welcome the ambition to identify strategic projects, streamline and accelerate permit granting processes in the Member States while keeping the highest level of sustainability. Companies in EIT InnoEnergy’s portfolio, such as Vulcan Zero Carbon Lithium or EuroManganese, are ready to start and contribute to the EU’s resilience in such strategic materials. There is no time to lose to pool efforts around them to accelerate their operations.” www.innoenergy.com