19. 01. 2026
AUTHOR: Tristan Beucler
On 25 February, the European Commission is set to publish its Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA). This is a crucial moment for the European Union (EU) to demonstrate its willingness to support its strategic industries, which are suffering from low demand, high energy prices, and unfair international competition. The IAA can provide the necessary security while new industries emerge and energy-intensive industries decarbonise. To be effective, this policy can rely on lead markets for net-zero technologies and low-emission materials built on binding sustainability criteria. It can apply Made-in-Europe criteria to all public expenditures in strategic sectors and amend Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rules to best support local value chains. The Commission has announced these objectives in the Clean Industrial Deal, and 18 Member States have signed a declaration in support. Its potential is recognised by numerous actors, including cleantech innovators, the chemical, mining, and steel industries, automotive suppliers, and trade unions. The IAA provides an opportunity to implement Made-in-Europe criteria across strategic sectors.
Rewarding industrial frontrunners through lead markets for net-zero products
This first major milestone of the Clean Industrial Deal can launch a long-awaited policy for the EU’s net-zero industries: the creation of lead markets. By securing a portion of the market for net-zero products and materials, this policy can create predictable demand for the next decade, supporting the necessary investments into decarbonisation. To be effective, this policy requires four crucial aspects:
- Supporting heavy industries in decarbonising their production, for instance, by introducing binding carbon footprint criteria in key sectors such as the automotive, wind turbines, or railways, to support the offtake of low-emission steel, aluminium, and other materials.
- Rewarding low-carbon products, thereby leveraging the existing competitive advantage of innovative, net-zero technologies and materials produced in Europe, which tend to be less CO2-intensive than their international counterparts. For instance, batteries produced in the EU emit 37% less CO2 on average than Chinese batteries.
- Including recyclability and circularity criteria to reduce the EU’s dependence on imported critical raw materials and build circular value chains.
Supporting European value chains with a Made-in-Europe policy
The heart of this Act will be its proposal for Made-in-Europe criteria applied to public spending in strategic sectors. In a context of industrial crisis, as many European manufacturers struggle to find a solid business case because of subsidised Chinese overcapacity exports, this policy can make a real difference. It contributes to levelling the international playing field with the EU’s competitors, who have been using local content policies for decades to support their strategic sectors. More importantly, it can create an effective demand push for European manufacturers at a strategic moment, when they need significant investments to decarbonise their processes or scale up their production. Along with strong conditionalities on Foreign Direct Investments, these criteria can support European value chains, create jobs, and rebuild European competitiveness.
To make sure the IAA creates effective conditions to support strategic industries in the EU, a Made-in-Europe policy can be implemented directly and relies on three pillars:
- A market scope that covers sectors of strategic importance for the EU’s economic security and competitiveness, e.g. wind turbines, electric vehicles, batteries, chemicals, grid-related technologies, and low-emission steel.
- A policy scope that covers all uses of public money in these sectors, beyond public procurement. This includes consumer bonuses, renewable energy auctions, State aid, and tax credits.
- A definition based on a percentage of added value in the EU to avoid the creation of assembly plants in the EU rather than real value chains. This percentage could be progressively increased as the production capacities scale up in the EU. This could be complemented with FDI conditionalities to ensure that investments into the EU help build resilient value chains.
For relevant sectors, such as Critical Raw Materials, cooperation with targeted partners, for instance, through Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships, could reinforce mutually beneficial value chains.
