Europe’s Green Industry Push: Understanding the Net Zero Industry Act
- Zuzanna Miernik
- Jun 16
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 16
The International Energy Agency reports that since 2015, the global market for six major clean energy technologies - solar photovoltaic, wind, electric vehicles, batteries, electrolysers, and heat pumps has grown almost fourfold, reaching US$700 billion in 2023. The market for essential clean technologies is expected to almost triple by 2035 under current policy settings. Clean energy technologies enable to achieive net-zero emissions across power, transport, and are essential components of pathways to decarbonisation. As a result, they have become strategically important not only for meeting climate neutrality goals but also for strengthening European competitiveness, energy security, and the resilience of supply chains.
In 2019, Commission President von der Leyen launched the European Green Deal, a comprehensive roadmap aimed at achieving a clean energy transition. To support the industrial transition, the European Green Deal was complemented by the Net-Zero Industry Act 2024 (NZIA), a key pillar of the Green Deal Industrial Plan. One of its central objectives is to strengthen Europe’s domestic manufacturing capacity for net-zero technologies, which the Act assigns strategic status and priority treatment.
The main instruments of the NZIA include:
Permitting procedures
As highlighted in the Draghi Report (2024), permitting processes in many Member States are slow and fragmented, often involving up to 15 different authorities. This creates a significant administrative burden for project developers and slows down deployment. The NZIA introduces measures to streamline and accelerate these procedures. The proposed maximum permitting timelines under the NZIA are: 9 months for strategic projects below 1 GW, 12 months for manufacturing projects below 1 GW, and 18 months for projects of 1 GW or more.
Member States are required to designate “one-stop shop” authorities responsible for coordinating permits for net-zero strategic projects, enabling investors to complete all necessary procedures through a single administrative point of contact.
Net-Zero Platforms
The Platform provides mutual assistance and coordination between Member States and the Commission in relation to the implementation of the Net-Zero Industry Act. It supports several key initiatives, including Net-Zero Academies, strategic projects and financing mechanisms, improved access to markets and permitting processes, as well as the development of Net-Zero Acceleration Valleys.
Net-Zero Acceleration Valley
The NZIA introduces Net-Zero Acceleration Valleys, which aim to rapidly scale up the production of net-zero technologies within specific geographic areas by concentrating support, infrastructure, and manufacturing activities in one place.
Net-Zero Academies
The development of net-zero technologies requires a highly skilled workforce. The NZIA introduces Net-Zero Academies, which aim to close the skills gap in net-zero technology manufacturing. These academies support the development of targeted learning programmes focused on training, upskilling, and reskilling workers.
Net-Zero Regulatory Sandboxes
The NZIA establishes a legal and administrative framework that allows companies to test innovative net-zero technologies under more flexible regulatory conditions than usual. These activities take place under specific plans designated by the competent authorities in each Member State. In other words, regulatory sandboxes provide tailored, simplified permitting pathways.
Final thoughts:
The NZIA represents a fundamental step towards creating a competitive environment for net-zero strategic projects, where technologies such as hydrogen, batteries, or heat pumps can be deployed to support the transition to climate neutrality.
However, a key challenge of the NZIA lies in the high degree of responsibility placed on Member States for its implementation, which may lead to uneven application across the EU, particularly given the differences between Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe. Moreover, the Act itself does not introduce significant new dedicated funding. Instead, it relies largely on existing EU financial instruments, such as the Recovery and Resilience Facility and InvestEU.
