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Green industry: ‘Buy less Chinese’ instead of ‘buy European’
(EurActiv, 20 Mar 2023) Free trade advocates are relieved by the European Commission’s proposal for a “Net-Zero Industry Act” as compared to the draft, it does not favour European manufacturers over foreign ones, instead containing a looser provision against Chinese dependency.
As the production of heat pumps, solar panels, and batteries must be scaled up to fulfil climate policy objectives, the European Commission unveiled a plan to increase European manufacturing on Thursday (16 March).
One particular objective is to reduce Europe’s dependency on China, which currently dominatesmanufacturing of many clean tech products, such as solar PV cells.
For that, the European Commission proposes introducing additional criteria for public procurement or support schemes for green tech, allowing EU countries to favour non-Chinese products over Chinese ones, even if they cost more.
So far, options were limited, as EU state aid rules obliged EU countries to grant public support for renewable energy mainly for projects with the lowest price and allowed only non-discriminatory “non-price criteria”, such as environmental criteria, to make up a maximum of 30% of weighting when comparing bids.
The new proposal would see the 30% upper limit maintained but also adds a 15% minimum requirement for weighting “sustainability and resilience contributions”, which could include environmental standards, energy system integration, and risk management measures.
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EurActiv, 20 Mar 2023: Green industry: ‘Buy less Chinese’ instead of ‘buy European’
