In the competition for climate-friendly energy and industrial jobs of the future, according to official estimates, hundreds of billions more have to be invested every year in Europe.
Specifically, the EU Commission puts the need at 477 billion euros that would have to be made available annually for transport and energy systems, compared to what was previously spent in these areas. In this way, the climate targets of the EU could be met. In order for the money to flow, among other things, rules for state aid are to be further relaxed, according to a draft by the commission that is available to the German Press Agency.
The Commission’s text states, for example, that subsidies in China are twice as high in relation to economic output as in the EU. “This has distorted the market and left China dominating the manufacturing of a range of clean technologies.” China’s announced investments in clean technologies totaled more than US$280 billion. Changes can still be made to the design.
The text praises the fact that partners are also investing in climate-friendly technologies. The USA mobilized more than 360 billion dollars (around 331 billion euros) with its so-called Inflation Reduction Act. However, the project is also viewed very critically in Brussels because it contains measures that are seen as discriminatory. Certain benefits should only be granted to companies that produce in the USA. In order to react to state aid in other countries, according to the draft, aid in the EU should be granted for more technologies in the future, be higher than before and have longer deadlines.
“The era of cheap fossil fuels is over,” says the plan, according to which industry has to invest 170 billion euros in wind farms, solar systems, batteries, heat pumps and hydrogen by 2030 so that the industry remains competitive. The money for the projects is to be reallocated from existing pots or mobilized from private sources.
