Europe – 18 Members of the parliament and 22 industry CEO’s signed an open letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans. The thirty influencers try to push the EC to show more ambition towards renewable energy.
A successful transformation towards climate neutrality fundamentally rests on a European approach towards the massive acceleration of renewable energy deployment for industrial transformation. As a unique alliance between Members of the European Parliament and CEOs from leading companies, which have pledged climate neutrality by 2050, we are jointly calling upon the Commission to show more ambition and determination when it comes to making Europe’s energy system fit, already for 2030.
All planned policies and measures being decided now are paving the road to climate neutrality in 2050, and that is why today’s action counts. Today, a massive ramp-up of renewable energy production must ensure that the EU renewable energy system is operational as soon as possible. Although the EU’s Renewed Industrial strategy falls short in this regard, with the upcoming legislative package we have another chance to set this right.
If the EU is to be a front runner for climate friendly manufacturing through the deployment of low carbon process technologies and ground-breaking innovations, the key enablers are infrastructure, access to abundant renewable electricity supply and rapid commercialization of new processes at competitive energy prices. Without a stronger European policy focus and increased investments boosting the availability of renewables for industrial use, we not only risk delaying needed GHG reductions, affecting industrial competitiveness but also our overall credibility to deliver on our common commitments.
We are still far from the needed volumes and capacity in terms of renewable energy to unleash the industrial electrification business case, as the Green Deal and its measures require. Only through the build-up of a truly European framework and by integrating national attempts, we will manage this successfully. To speed up industrial electrification efforts, we must abolish grid bottlenecks quickly, ensure that cross-border interconnectors enable free flow of energy between countries, avoid barriers for renewable energy integration of the power used in industry and ensure access to industrial consumers with no local/regional capacities.
Many companies in the European Union are ready “to walk the talk”, so should the European Commission. The fundament of tomorrow’s single market needs to be laid out today – thereby supply side and demand side measures need to go hand in hand. Global competitors are moving fast. We must not fall behind in our actions. Now is the time to act and be resolute. This is the only way to ensure we can kick start the journey towards deep industrial emissions reductions already before 2030.
Heavy industries
Among the thirty signers are chief executive officers of major petrochemical companies, energie companies and other representatives of the heavy industries:
Martin Lundstedt, CEO AB Volvo. Benoît Potier, CEO Air Liquide. Oliver Bäte, CEO Allianz. Lakshmi N. Mittal, Executive Chairman ArcelorMittal. Martin Brudermüller, CEO BASF. Thomas Gangl, CEO Borealis. Markus Steilemann, CEO Covestro. Ola Källenius, CEO Daimler. Dimitri de Vreeze, Co-CEO DSM. José Ignacio Sánchez Galán, CEO Iberdrola. Peter Vanacker, CEO Neste. Hilde Merete Aasheim, CEO Norsk Hydro. Alfred Stern, CEO elect, OMV Group. Mads Nipper, CEO Ørsted. Markus Krebber, CEO RWE. Roland Busch, CEO Siemens. Ben van Beurden, CEO Shell. Ilham Kadri, CEO Solvay. Martina Merz, CEO ThyssenKrupp. Dimitri Papalexopoulos, CEO Titan Cement. Patrick Pouyanné, CEO TotalEnergies. Anna Borg, CEO Vattenfall.
