Written by Marlène Siméon (marlene.simeon@fcarchitects.org)
The week of July 15-19, 2024, marked a significant milestone in European democracy as the newly elected European Parliament (EP) convened for its first plenary session of the 2024-2029 term in Strasbourg. Representing Future Cleantech Architects (FCA), our EU Policy Manager, Marlène Siméon, attended this critical session, which set the stage for the EU’s legislative and policy agenda for the next five years for the 720 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) representing more than 450 million Europeans.
What happened in Strasbourg this week?
Key decisions and appointments
During the Plenary, Roberta Metsola (EPP, Malta) was re-elected as President of the European Parliament, and 14 MEPs were elected Vice Presidents, solidifying the new leadership. The new political groups were also formed:
With the support of four pro-European parties, Ursula von der Leyen (EPP, Germany) was re-elected as President of the European Commission.
Cleantech Friendship Group meeting
Invited by @Cleantech for Europe, FCA was privileged to participate in the first Cleantech Friendship Group’s breakfast meeting of this term, on “Boosting European Industrial Competitiveness.” Co-chaired by MEPs Lídia Pereira (EPP, Portugal) and Thomas Pellerin-Carlin (S&D, France), the meeting underscored a cross-party commitment to a clean and competitive industry. Topics included investments and venture capital, strategic focus on high emission reduction sectors, the Single Market’s role in the energy sector, early public engagement, social and environmental sustainability, grid capacity, and energy security.
Just Transition event
Organized by the Social Platform and the Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, the Just Transition event underscored the need for a fair transition in implementing the Green Deal. It focused on anticipating change, ensuring the right to education for workers, job creation for women and young people, decent wages, and respecting nature.
In the next months
Looking ahead, the constitutive meetings of the EP standing Committees and Subcommittees will take place in Brussels on 23-24 July 2024. Each Member State will also designate its Commissioner, with written questions and hearings before MEPs scheduled for the fall. The President of the European Commission will send Mission Letters to the new Commissioners once they are officially appointed.
What are the next European Commission President’s priorities?
In her address based on the political guidelines for the 2024-2029 Commission, Ursula von der Leyen outlined a robust agenda focused on boosting Europe’s prosperity and competitiveness as priority number one, particularly through simplifying business processes and reducing bureaucratic hurdles. Von der Leyen emphasized that each Commissioner would concentrate on minimizing regulatory burdens, with progress reports delivered annually.
✅ Renewable energy and an Industrial Decarbonization Accelerator Act
She announced the introduction of a Clean Industrial Deal within the first 100 days, designed to channel investments into infrastructure and energy-intensive industries. It will also aim to reduce energy bills and combat energy poverty. To back this new Clean Industrial Deal, two financing pillars will be launched: a European Savings and Investments Union to mobilize private financing and support startups within Europe, complemented by public funding through a new European Competitiveness Fund, especially for cross-border European projects to drive competitiveness and innovation.
For us at FCA, backed with private and public funding, this Clean Industrial Deal could be a milestone for cleantech development, deployment, uptake in industrial processes, and financing. Continued decisive actions will crucial on two interrelated fronts, particularly for the intertwined goals to maintain competitiveness and reach the proposed target of a 90% emissions reduction by 2040: to develop innovative solutions to decarbonize hardest-to-abate sectors, where technologies are still nascent or require significant advancements, and also to fully deploy existing cleantech solutions to achieve immediate emissions reductions across industries. For us, Europe will need to focus on hard-to-abate sectors that are high in emissions, have the highest potential to decrease emissions, but lack current solutions, and require research, scale-up, and uptake in industrial processes. This would encompass high temperature heat, cement, fuels, and aviation.
✅ Renewable energy
Von der Leyen in her speech as candidate to become President of the European Commission also highlighted Europe’s commitment to renewable energy, noting that 50% of the continent’s electricity generation now comes from renewables, moving away from Russian fossil fuel dependence. Investments in clean technologies have surged, and Europe has secured 35 new agreements on cleantech, hydrogen, and critical raw materials with global partners. Von der Leyen reiterated the EU’s dedication to achieving a 90% emissions reduction target by 2040 and wants to enshrine this target in the European Climate Law.
For us at FCA, addressing barriers hindering industries from transitioning away from fossil fuels, particularly coal and natural gas, by promoting and strongly incentivizing the adoption of technologies that can replace them and change the energy mix, will be crucial for the next European Commission. In particular, it will have to focus on mitigating intermittency of solar and wind with long duration energy storage solutions and the advancement of dispatchable clean power technologies like advanced geothermal and concentrated solar power. Europe will also need to avoid any overreliance on scarce resources. For instance, the process of manufacturing e-fuels is energy-intensive and inefficient. It will always make sense to opt for direct electrification over e-fuels when feasible, for example, in road transport. Electric vehicles are the clear decarbonization solution in this transport segment. Hydrogen and e-fuels are inefficient and costly in comparison. However e-fuels will make sense in hard-to-abate sectors of the economy where direct electrification is not a feasible decarbonization option and where it is indispensable, such as refineries, petrochemicals, ammonia production, methanol production, and primary steelmaking, before expanding to nascent sectors like shipping and Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs).
✅ Research and Innovation
In her political guidelines, Ursula von der Leyen also recognizes that a significant part of this transition involves a strong Research and Innovation (R&I) agenda, with increased R&I spending focused on strategic priorities, groundbreaking fundamental research, disruptive innovation, and scientific excellence. To facilitate this, she intends to expand the European Research Council and the European Innovation Council. Many innovations still need to happen to increase cleantech performance and expand their coverage in time and geography, there is no silver bullet technology.
✅ Support for independent journalism
One notable point in her speech was the importance of supporting independent journalism. This aligns with FCA’s priorities discussed during our recent Future Cleantech Festival, focusing on effective climate communication and countering misinformation.
Stay tuned as we continue engaging with European leaders and policymakers to drive our cleantech and sustainability agenda forward!