French and German economy ministers call for green EU industrial strategy
Clean Energy Wire
The upcoming European industrial strategy update should be further geared towards the transformation to a CO2-neutral economy,the French economy minister and his German counterpart have argued. In a joint position paper, German minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) and Bruno Le Maire from France argue that the industry transformation requires a strengthening of EU emissions trading to enable cost-effective emission reduction, and that more ambitious climate protection initiatives are needed to achieve the European 2030 CO2 reduction target. Both ministers call for the implementation of a carbon border adjustment mechanism that reduces the risk of carbon leakage. European industrial alliances, such as the German-French construction of a comprehensive hydrogen production chain promoted by the EU Commission as part of the "Important Projects of Common European Interest" (IPCEI), are central to making the economy sustainable, they write. The need to mobilise private investments and channel them towards green and digital economy objectives is a central message of their paper, Altmaier's ministry said in a press release.
“Now is the moment to switch all industrial policy buttons to ‘power on’: the ones for engaging actively in the green and digital transition, the ones for implementing the lessons learnt from COVID-19, the ones for pan-European cooperation in innovative technologies and the ones for triggering private investment on a very large scale," Altmaier said.
