“Today’s proposal aims to ensure that Member States can provide support – where needed – to accompany the ambitions of the Clean Industrial Deal without causing undue distortions of competition in the Single Market,” Commission Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera said in a press release.
The document said that considerable investment will be needed for Europe’s decarbonization effort “and for which funds will need to be mobilised, mainly from private sources, but, where necessary, incentivised or complemented by public funds.”
It aims to attract “risk-averse” pension funds to such investments by encouraging programs where governments can reduce investment risks.
Industry investments in decarbonization could get state aid of up to €200 million, up to 50 percent of the cost of a project that enables the use of hydrogen, up to 35 percent for renewable energy projects and 30 percent of carbon capture equipment.
To roll out programs more quickly, aid for renewable hydrogen and other “less mature technologies” could be granted without a tender. Governments must insist that hydrogen investments mostly use renewable hydrogen.
Notably, the document says that investments to cut industrial emissions will be considered for state aid “irrespective of the technological solution used,” as long as the proposed option can deliver certain climate-friendly outcomes. The language is a nod to the “tech neutral” approach the Commission has increasingly taken in recent months, bending to pressure from industry and major EU capitals.