The European Commission finally served up its Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) this week, after months of delays. We were looking forward to a copious serving of lead markets for low-carbon products, accelerated investment in clean manufacturing, and strengthened EU competitiveness in a net-zero global economy.
Instead, what we got was a side salad: a few decent ingredients, but nowhere near filling enough to power Europe’s industrial competitiveness ambitions. And crucially, it fails to send the durable demand and investment signals that hard-to-abate sectors need, particularly for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and the CO2 transport infrastructure that makes CCS viable at scale.
"Europe will not scale clean manufacturing on public demand alone. We need a framework that mobilises both public and private demand, establishes EU-wide rules that make low-carbon products comparable and investable, and broadens the scope beyond a narrow set of actors." - Bergur Løkke Rasmussen, CCS Europe Director
What we asked for the Industrial Accelerator Act
Last month, CCS Europe joined more than 40 organisations across industry, research, think tanks, and civil society in a joint statement. Our message was clear: Europe will not scale clean manufacturing on public demand alone. We need a framework that mobilises both public and private demand, establishes EU-wide rules that make low-carbon products comparable and investable, and broadens the scope beyond a narrow set of actors.
Beyond product rules and labelling, unlocking finance through de-risking measures is key as well, especially for CO2 transport infrastructure, which are still at an early stage. If Europe wants clean manufacturing projects to move from plans to reality, Member States should be explicitly encouraged to deploy tools such as blended finance, guarantees, or risk-sharing mechanisms within national industrial acceleration areas.
What the Industrial Accelerator Act gets right
Public purchasing can help early markets form, reduce perceived risk, and support first movers. These steps matter. But the IAA in its current form, is not yet the accelerator Europe needs.
Three critical gaps
CCS and CO2 infrastructure get rhetorical support but no strategic recognition
While the explanatory memorandum mentions CCS, the operative text doesn’t explicitly recognise CCS as a strategic industrial decarbonisation solution.
This has real consequences. Hard-to-abate sectors like cement, lime, waste-to-energy, chemicals and parts of refining cannot decarbonise through electrification and renewables alone. Without clear recognition of CCS and stronger signals for CO2 infrastructure, projects struggle to reach final investment decisions. Europe risks slower emissions reductions and slower infrastructure buildout.
Demand measures are too narrow and too reliant on public procurement
The IAA leans heavily on public procurement and support schemes. That won’t create the market scale required, especially when most relevant value chains are driven by private sector purchasing.
Public procurement cannot carry the full weight of industrial transformation. If low-carbon markets depend primarily on public demand, we get fragmentation across Member States, limited market volume, and insufficient pull for investment in industrial assets and CO2 infrastructure. Europe needs a credible pathway for private demand creation so manufacturers can invest knowing there will be buyers beyond public tenders.
No EU-wide approach to measuring and comparing GHG intensity
If low-carbon requirements are going to work across borders and value chains, companies need clarity on how greenhouse gas intensity is measured and compared. Without harmonised, performance-based standards and the data framework to back them, low-carbon products remain hard to benchmark, hard to price, and hard to finance. This is the difference between low-carbon products becoming mainstream or staying niche and unaffordable.
There’s also a broader concern: if implementing rules leave room to prioritise origin-based criteria over decarbonisation performance, or to treat low-carbon as optional, then the IAA misses it main purpose.
What needs to happen next
Ultimately, the Commission proposal is only the starter. The European Parliament and Council now have an opportunity add meat to the proposal, so as to turn the IAA into an instrument that genuinely accelerates industrial decarbonisation and competitiveness. Co-legislators should strengthen the IAA in four ways: make industrial decarbonisation a central competitiveness lever; recognise CCS and CO2 transport/storage as strategic enablers for hard-to-abate sectors; build durable private demand, not only public purchasing; and create harmonised, performance-based standards with a robust GHG accounting framework.
Europe’s next chapter of competitiveness must be built on a credible path to net-zero. Otherwise, we will keep turning up hungry for a feast and being told the side salad is the meal.