In the context of the European Green Deal, the European Commission (EC) put forward in February 2023 ‘A Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age’ to tackle the economic dimension of the net-zero target: EU’s industry. The 2019 Green Deal Communication gathered interest on the competitiveness of EU industry, innovation and skills, but it was only after the 2021-2022 energy crisis and the subsequent disruptive economic and social consequences that the EU decided to boost its industrial arm, aligning with the trend of global initiatives with similar objectives (e.g., US Inflation Reduction Act). Interestingly, the proposals related to the Green Industrial Plan were still framed under the umbrella of the Green Deal, showing how the extensive plan is able to incorporate the response to new issues.

The EU’s industrial Plan aims to equip Europe’s economic model, built on its Single Market, with the tools that are necessary to make it fit for net zero, allowing a massive increase in technological development, manufacturing production and installation of net-zero products and energy supply in the next decade, at the same time tackling the challenges related to these actions (e.g., global competition for raw materials and skilled personnel). The International Energy Agency estimated that the global market for core mass-manufactured clean energy technologies will be worth around USD 650 billion a year by 2030 (around EUR 600 billion), more than three times today’s level.