Changes from adopted text to adopted text

Removed(63) An overall benchmark and indicative objectives for the manufacturing of key net-zero technology products in the European Union are put forward in order to improve the Union’s industrial global competitiveness as well as to help tackle import dependency and vulnerability concerns and ensure the Union’s climate and energy targets are met.

Removed(64) One of the main objectives of Union’s industrial policy is to enable the green and digital transitions while preserving the sustainable growth and competitiveness of the Union, maintaining quality jobs and strengthening its ability to innovate and produce, particularly with regard to clean technologies. The scaling up of European net-zero technology industries as well as ensuring Union’s open strategic autonomy require significant additional skilled workers which implies important investment needs in re-skilling and upskilling, including in the field of vocational education and training. More specifically, the energy transition will require a significant increase in the number of skilled workers in a range of sectors, including renewable energy and energy storage, grid technologies, battery production as well as IT or Smart solutions for energy system optimization and management, and other industrial decarbonisation technologies. According to studies, the circular economy could contribute to the creation of around 700 000 jobs in the Union alone by 2030. It is therefore of utmost importance to make jobs in net zero technologies attractive and accessible, especially technical careers including through Union information campaigns to promote technical and vocational education, as well as jobs related to circular economy, resource management and industrial transformation and decarbonisation in general. Furthermore, it is necessary to tackle the current mismatch between the skills of Union workers and the needs of companies. The skill needs for the fuel cell hydrogen sub-sector in manufacturing alone are estimated at 180.000 trained workers, technicians and engineers by the year 2030, according to the Commission’s European Strategic Energy Technology Plan.. In the photo-voltaic solar energy sector, up to 66.000 jobs would be needed in manufacturing alone. In addition, the absence of educational programmes that promote skills necessary for net zero technologies, which also cause a scarcity of skilled employees and a lack of understanding within local administration in certain regions of the Union, could create a significant bottleneck for sustainable industrial development.

Removed(65) Since strengthening the manufacturing capacity of key net-zero technologies in the Union will not be possible without a sizeable skilled workforce, it is necessary to introduce measures to boost the integration of more people to the labour market, and to make the industries and the technical careers concerned by this Regulation more attractive, especially to women as the gender balance is far from being reached in technology-oriented professions, and to young people including via skills first approaches as a complement to qualifications-based recruitment. In addition, workers from third countries should also be targeted as the Union only attracts a small share of qualified migrants. In addition, in line with the objectives of the Council Recommendation on ensuring a fair transition towards climate-neutrality, specific support for job-to-job transition and with a view of favouring lifelong learning and training for workers in redundant and declining sectors are important. This means investing in skills for all, while, at the same time, having a targeted approach towards vulnerable groups. This includes groups of people who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs), legally residing migrant workers as well as people who are excluded from the labour market, have limited access to training opportunities or are in jobs, which are either at risk of disappearing or whose content and tasks are being highly transformed by new technologies, especially in regions affected by the impacts of the transition towards the Union's 2030 targets pursuant to Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1056 of the European Parliament and the Council and Article 5(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. The end objective should be the creation of quality job required for net-zero technologies in the Union in line with the targets for employment and training of the European Pillar of Social Rights, including fair and adequate wages, improving living and working conditions pursuant to Directive (EU)2022/2041 of the European Parliament and of the Council, access to social protection, lifelong learning opportunities, good working conditions in safe and healthy workplaces, as well as collective bargaining rights. In fact, upskilling and reskilling are important tools but do not guarantee quality jobs. Labour shortages might also be the result of low wages, unattractive jobs, poor working conditions, and a lack of investment in vocational education and training (VET). Addressing these issues and improving job quality in sectors and companies with poor working conditions are also important elements to attract workers and address the issue of brain drain which results in growing inequalities between regions, unequal development as well as unequal capacity to drive innovation and create quality jobs. Building on and fully taking into account existing initiatives such as the EU Pact for Skills, EU level activities on skills intelligence and forecasting, such as by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, Eurofound, and the European Labour Authority and the Blueprints for sectoral cooperation on skills, the objective is to mobilise all actors: Member States authorities, including at regional and local levels, education and training providers including universities, research universities, universities of applied science and university alliances, as well as social partners and industry, SMEs, start-ups, and social enterprises to identify skills needs, develop education and training programmes and deploy these at large scale in a fast and operational manner. Net-zero strategic projects have a key role to play in this regard. Member States and the Commission should ensure financial support to deploy their impact and outreach by leveraging the possibilities of the Union budget through instruments such as the European Social Fund Plus, InvestEU, Just Transition Fund, European Regional Development Funds, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the Modernisation Fund, REPowerEU and the Single Market Programme.

Removed(66) Building on local and regional initiatives and on previous experiences, such as hubs for skills development, the EU Pact for Skills and the European Battery Alliance, or the Offshore Renewable Energy Alliance, the European Net-Zero Industry Academies, which are a network of relevant experts (Academies), should develop and deploy education and training content to upskill and reskill workers required for key net-zero technology value chains, such as solar photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies, marine renewable energy, renewable hydrogen technologies and raw materials, and CCU. The scope and number of the Academies should be determined by the Commission and the Member States in the framework of the Net-Zero Platform on the basis of existing and objective studies in line with the principle of technological neutrality as well as based on a mapping exercise of current and forecasted needs in net-zero industries, including in regions in transition. Such a mapping exercise should provide information about current and upcoming skills shortages in key net-zero industries across the Union and how training opportunities are provided in such industries. The mapping exercise should also analyse the root cause of skills and labour shortages in particular related to the quality of the job offer in net-zero industries such as by assessing the working conditions and the coverage of collective bargaining. Additionally, based on the results of the mapping exercise and existing studies and in consultation with the Net-Zero Europe Platform, the Commission should issue a call for proposals to launch an academy in a given technology when a critical level of skills shortage in relation to a net zero technology is identified (Academy). Union’s seed-funding should be made available to set up the Academies and allow their functioning in view of becoming financially sustainable three years after their establishment by receiving financial contributions from the private sector. A strong governance is needed to make the Academies operational as fast as possible in order to develop training programmes in net zero technologies. This should be done without prejudice to the determining role that social partners and universities can also play in the creation of such Academies, as in the case in the Battery Alliance. The role of international and interdisciplinary university alliances, such as Transform4Europe, should in particular be considered to achieve more unified and common standards in training and reskilling or upskilling activities. In general, the use of already existing research and teaching infrastructures should also be prioritised.

Removed(66a) One of the aims of the Academies should be to contribute to the Union’s re-industrialisation and decarbonisation as well as to its open strategic autonomy. The Academies should also address the need for net zero technologies with high social and climate standards that are produced in the Union. The Academies should be established by 31 December 2024 and should provide learning content in as many of the languages of the Union institutions as possible, with the aim of achieving geographical balance across Member States. By 31 December 2025, they should start disseminating initial learning content to relevant education and training providers in Member States, such as universities, research universities, universities of applied sciences and university alliances, undertakings that provide such education and training, including SMEs, start-ups and social enterprises, social partners and by training trainers. The Academies should aim to enable the training and education of 100 000 learners each within three years of their establishment, taking the extent of the identified skills shortages into account which may result in a variation of the number of learners per Academy. The Academies should contribute to the availability of skills required for the net-zero technologies, including in SMEs. The learning content should take into account already existing learning programmes developed in the framework of the local Pact for Skills and the centres of professional excellence and should target all levels of education and qualification and all workers, including apprentices, along the value chain in the sectors concerned whereby all successive industrial phases are taken into account, from the design of the product (or the service), to the manufacturing phase, including the recycling and reuse of materials, whereby all the different professions across the value chain are considered. That content should also include learning modules with relevant information about health and safety at work for each specific technology as well as general relevant information on workers’ rights and working conditions, including on working time and workers’ rights to information and consultation. That content could, where relevant, be further adjusted to national law, applicable collective agreements and territorial and sectoral specificities by the education and training providers. The learning content should also target employees in national and local administrations (particularly responsible for permitting, impact assessment and regulations of new technologies), thus contributing to capacity building among national administrations and to a reduction of disparities among Member States.

Removed(66b) Member States should use and deploy the learning content developed by the Academies in existing instruments such as in the reinforced Youth Guarantee whose one of its objectives is to provide education and training to NEETs, and in existing mentoring programmes. To ensure skills transparency and portability and the mobility of workers, and support the Member States in these efforts, the Academies will develop and deploy credentials, including micro-credentials, covering learning achievements. They should be issued in the format of European credentials for learning and could be integrated into the EUROPASS and, where relevant, included in National Qualifications Frameworks. Member States should be encouraged to use the content developed by the Academies for supporting the continuous reskilling and upskilling and the relevant education and training providers in their territories through national programmes and Union funding, including from the European Social Fund Plus, the reinforced Youth Guarantee, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, InvestEU the European Regional Development Fund, the Just Transition Mechanism, the Modernisation Fund and the Technical Support Instrument, and to support the integration of women in line with the European Strategy for Gender Equality in order to address educational and occupational gender stereotypes. The European network of employment services can play a significant role in using the learning content of training programmes delivered by the skills Academies in the creation and deployment of European occupation profiles and by providing information to national employment services about them.

Removed(66c) The Net-Zero Europe Platform should assist in guiding the work of the Academies ensuring that their content addresses the skills shortages identified by the mapping exercise and providing oversight. Member States should ensure that the appointed national representative can act as a bridge between the relevant national ministries and competent authorities of the Member States as well as the national social partners and industry representatives. The Net-Zero Europe Platform should collect information on the progress made by the different Academies and produce by the end of 2026 an overview report on the deployment of the learning programmes, including the number of learners benefiting from the Academies’ programmes disaggregated by industrial sectors, gender, age, and levels of education and qualification.

Removed(67) While in the absence of specific provisions introducing minimum training requirements for the access to a regulated profession or the pursuit thereof laid down in the Union law, it is a Member State’s competence to decide whether and how to regulate a profession, national rules organizing access to regulated professions must not constitute an unjustified or disproportionate obstacle to the exercise of those fundamental rights. The competence to regulate access to a profession must be exercised within the limits of the principles of non-discrimination and proportionality, in accordance with Directive (EU) 2018/958 of the European Parliament and of the Council ▌. In their assessment Member States should take into account any detrimental effects that regulation or professions may have on the availability of skills in the Net-Zero Industry and seek to limit the regulation in these fields to the maximum extent possible.

Removed(68) Where the learning programmes developed by ▌Academies lead to credentials that would be of assistance including to persons seeking access to a profession that is regulated, Member States and employers should, in order to facilitate the mobility in strategic net-zero industry professions, accept these credentials as sufficient proof of the knowledge, skills and competences to which they attest.

Removed(68a) The contribution of net-zero technologies to the decarbonisation objectives of the Union can materialise only when those technologies are deployed. Such a deployment, to an extent, is likely to happen in private households, but most decarbonisation is likely to come from decarbonising industrial processes. In order to ensure that investments for such decarbonisation take place in the Union, which is essential to secure good jobs and prosperity in the Union as well as for fulfilling the Union's decarbonisation objectives, it is crucial that it contributes to an improvement of the investment climate for industry in the Union.

Removed(69) At Union level, a Net-Zero Europe Platform, should be established, composed of the Member States and of the European Parliament, and chaired by the Commission. The Net-Zero Europe Platform may advise and assist the Commission and Member States on specific questions and provide a reference body, in which the Commission and Member States coordinate their action and facilitate the exchange of information on issues relating to this Regulation. The Net-Zero Europe Platform should further perform the tasks outlined in the different Articles of this Regulation, notably in relation to permitting, including one-stop shops, Net-Zero Strategic Projects, coordination of and access to financing, access to markets and skills as well as regulatory sandboxes for innovative net-zero technologies and other innovative technologies. Where necessary, the Net-Zero Europe Platform should be able to establish standing or temporary subgroups and invite third parties, such as experts or representatives from net-zero industries.

Removed(70) As part of the Green Deal Industrial Plan the Commission announced its intention to conclude Net-Zero Industrial Partnerships covering net-zero technologies.Cooperation through such Partnerships is likely to promote the adoption of net-zero technologies globally,to support mutually reinforcing partnerships between the Union and third countries, including sustainable investments and technical assistance. Net-Zero Industrial Partnerships can also contribute to the diversification and resilience of the Union’s supply of net-zero technologies and their components, enhance information sharing between the Union and its partners on the development of net-zero technologies and support Union’s net-zero industries in accessing the global clean energymarket, while supporting nascent industries in the field of clean energy technologies in third countries with clear comparative advantages. The Commission and Member States should coordinate within the Net-Zero Europe Platform the Partnerships, discussing existing relevant partnerships and processes, such as green partnerships, energy dialogues and other forms of existing bilateral contractual arrangements, as well as potential synergies with relevant Member States’ bilateral agreements with third countries. Agreements with third countries including Net-Zero Industrial Partnerships should reflect core Union values and objectives notably with regard to promoting labour and international environmental standards in those countries. Moreover, Net-Zero Industrial Partnerships should aim to contribute to the industrial transformation across the whole value chain of Union and third country undertakings while ensuring open markets and fair trade.

Removed(71) The Union should aim to diversify international trade and investments in net-zero technologies forging mutual reinforcing partnerships, building on partners' own sustainable development plans, relevant environmental and human rights standards while promoting globally high social, labour and environmental standards. This should be done in close cooperation and partnership with like-minded countries by means of existing agreements or new strategic deals. Similarly, stronger international cooperation on research and innovation efforts to develop and deploy net-zero technologies should be pursued in close cooperation with partner countries in an open and balanced manner, with due regard to the Union’s strategic interests and needs.

Removed(71a) In her 2023 State of the Union address, the Commission President announced that the Competitiveness Check will be conducted by an independent board. This work should be informed by an ongoing body of work regarding the regulatory burden created by Union and national law and its impact on competitiveness of Union’s industry, including net-zero industries. To facilitate that work, this Regulation establishes a European Scientific Advisory Board on Review and Regulatory Burden. The Advisory Board should develop science-informed advice on the impact of the regulatory burden in the Union, on the basis of individual cases.

Removed(72) Where the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is delegated to the Commission under this Regulation, it is of particular importance that the Commission carries out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Inter-institutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

Removed(73) To the extent that any of the measures envisaged by the present Regulation constitute State aid, the provisions concerning such measures are without prejudice to the application of Articles 107 and 108 TFEU.

Removed(74) Since the objective of this Regulation cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can rather, by reason of the scale or effects of the action, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective,

RemovedHAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Removed1. This Regulation establishes the framework of measures to ensure a coordinated approach, throughout the Union, to the innovation and scaling up of the manufacturing capacity of net-zero technologies as well as of the components, materials and machinery along the supply chains of those technologies that are indispensable for their production and functioning in the Union to:

Removed(a) support the Union’s climate targets and climate neutrality objective, as defined by Regulation (EU) 2021/1119;

Removed(b) foster the Union’s international industrial competitiveness in order to contribute to the creation of quality jobs;

Removed(c) improve the Union’s access to a secure and sustainable supply of net-zero technologies;

Removed(d) strengthen Union’s open strategic autonomy;

Removed(e) safeguard the resilience of the corresponding Union’s supply chains; and

Removed(f) achieve the decarbonisation of the Union’s economy and society.

Removed2. To achieve the general objective referred to in paragraph 1, this Regulation contains measures with a view to ensuring:

Removed(a) the reduction of strategic dependencies in the Union of the strategic net-zero technologies as well as of the components, materials and machinery along the supply chains of those technologies that are indispensable for their production and functioning and that by 2030 reaches a manufacturing capacity corresponding to:

Removed(i) at least 40 % of the Union’s annual deployment needs for the corresponding technologies necessary to achieve the Union’s climate and energy targets, based on the technological deployment planned across the Union according to the national energy and climate plans prepared and submitted by the Member States pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1999; and

Removed(ii) at least 25 % of global demand for the corresponding technologies;

Removed(b) the guaranteed free movement of net zero technologies and related service placed on the internal market.

Removed3. Where, based on the report referred to in Article 35, the Commission concludes that the Union is likely not to achieve the objectives set out in paragraphs 1 and 2, it shall assess the feasibility and proportionality of proposing measures or exercising its powers at Union level in order to ensure the achievement of those objectives. In particular, the Commission shall assess the possibility of establishing including by means of delegated acts in accordance with Article 33, supplementing this Regulation, more granular targets for key technologies and components in order to ensure the achievement of those objectives. The Commission shall consult the Net-Zero Europe Platform to determine which measures or powers to apply.

RemovedWith the exception of Articles 26 and 27 of this Regulation, which apply to net-zero innovative technologies, this Regulation applies to net-zero technologies, as listed in Article 3a(1), well as to the components, materials and machinery along the supply chains of those technologies that are indispensable for their production and functioning. Raw materials processed materials and components falling under the scope of Regulation (EU) …/… [add footnote with publication references of the Critical Raw Materials Regulation] and under the scope of Regulation (EU) 2023/1781 shall be excluded from the scope of this Regulation.

Removed1. For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

Removed(a) ‘net-zero technologies’ means the technologies listed in Article 3a(1);

Removed(b) ‘component’ means a manufactured element of a net-zero technology final product;

Removed(ba) ‘materials’ means any raw or processed materials needed for the production of a component of a net-zero technology or of the final product;

Removed(c) ‘innovative net-zero technologies’ means technologies that comprise a genuine innovation, which are currently not available on the internal market and improve on the dominant comparable net-zero technology in at least one way as well as any technology included in the Strategic Energy Technology Plan referred to in Article 26d;

Removed(ca) 'other innovative technologies’ means technologies with potential to enable the transition to a climate neutral, clean economy and reduce strategic dependencies, which comprise genuine innovation not currently available on the internal market and which are advanced enough to be tested in a controlled environment;

Removed(cb) ‘pre-commercial innovative net-zero technologies’ means innovative net-zero technologies that are not commercially available but that are advanced enough to be tested in a controlled environment;

Removed(cc) ‘new commercial net-zero technologies’ means net-zero technologies which are not yet available on a large-scale commercial basis, which have a low market share, which improve on the dominant comparable technologies in at least one way, and which carry a clear degree of risk when included in a procurement;

Removed(cd) 'pre-commercial procurement' means the procurement of pre-commercial innovative net-zero technologies involving risk-benefit sharing under market conditions, and competitive development in phases, where there is a clear separation between the development activities of the procured products and the deployment of commercial volumes of the end-products;

Removed(ce) 'public procurement of innovative solutions' means procurement for which contracting authorities act as a launch customer for commercial innovative net-zero technologies, which may include conformity testing;

Removed(d) ‘net-zero technology manufacturing project’ means a planned industrial facility or extension or repurposing of an existing facility for manufacturing of net-zero technologies, final products or components, materials or machinery along the supply chains of those technologies that are indispensable for their production and functioning;

Removed(e) ‘net-zero strategic project’ means a net-zero technology manufacturing project which is selected in accordance with criteria laid down in Article 10;

Removed(ea) ‘net-zero industry valley’ or ‘Valley’ means a specific land area which has been designated by a Member State for the purpose of promoting the construction or expansion of manufacturing facilities in the net-zero industry supply chain;

Removed(f) ‘permit granting process’ means a process covering all relevant administrative permits to plan, build, expand and operate net-zero technology manufacturing projects, such as net-zero strategic projects, including building, chemical and grid connection permits and environmental assessments and authorisations where these are required, and encompassing all administrative applications and procedures from the receipt of the ▌application to the designated authority until the notification of the comprehensive decision on the outcome of the procedure by the responsible national competent authority or, where relevant, a responsible grid operator;

Removed(g) ‘comprehensive decision’ means the decision or set of decisions taken by Member State authorities not including courts or tribunals that determines whether or not a project promoter is authorised to implement a net-zero technology manufacturing project, without prejudice to any decision taken in the context of an administrative appeal procedure;

Removed(h) ‘project promoter’ means any undertaking or consortium of undertakings developing a net-zero technology manufacturing project or a net-zero strategic project;

Removed▌

Removed(ia) ‘net-zero regulatory sandbox’ means a scheme that enables undertakings to test innovative net-zero technologies and other innovative technologies in a controlled real-world environment, under a specific plan, developed and monitored by a competent authority;

Removed▌

Removed(k) ‘authority concerned’ means an authority that, under national law, is competent to issue permits and authorisations related to the planning, design and construction of immovable assets, including energy infrastructure;

Removed(l) ‘public procurement procedure’ means any of the following:

Removed(i) any type of award procedure covered by Directive 2014/24/EU for the conclusion of a public contract or Directive 2014/25/EU for the conclusion of a supply, works and service contract;

Removed(ii) a procedure for the award of works or a service concession covered by Directive 2014/23/EU;

Removed(m) ‘contracting authority’ in the context of public procurement procedures, means contracting authority as defined in Article 6 of Directive 2014/23/EU, Article 2(1), point (1) of Directive 2014/24/EU and Article 3 of Directive 2014/25/EU;

Removed(n) ‘contracting entity’ in the context of public procurement procedures, means contracting entity as defined in, Article 7 of Directive 2014/23/EU and Article 4 of Directive 2014/25/EU;

Removed(o) ‘contract’, in the context of public procurement procedures, means a public contract as defined in Article 2(1), point (5) of Directive 2014/24/EU, ‘contracts’ as defined in ‘supply, works and service contracts’ as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive 2014/25/EU, and ‘concessions’ as defined in Article 5, point (1), of Directive 2014/23/EU;

Removed(p) ‘auction’ means a mechanism for competitive tendering procedures, not falling under the definition of ‘concessions’ according to Article 5, point (1), of Directive 2014/23/EU;

Removed(q) ‘CO2 injection capacity’ means the annual amount of CO2 that can be injected in an operational geological storage site, permitted under Directive 2009/31/EC, including saline aquifers, provided with the means of capturing CO² and transporting it to the site, and with the purpose to reduce emissions or increase carbon removals, in particular from large scale industrial installations and which is measured in tonnes per annum;