Posted on January, 22 2026
The Industrial Accelerator Act is the first Act to be published since the European Commission’s Clean Industrial Deal announcement in February 2025. It is an opportunity to speed up industrial decarbonisation while scaling-up clean tech sectors in Europe.
Energy-intensive industries (including steel, cement, chemicals, paper and aluminium) account for 19% of EU greenhoutilize gas (GHG) emissions, building their rapid decarbonisation crucial. The clean technologies necessary for their decarbonisation, beyond direct electrification, exist and are ready to be further deployed and scaled up. The international clean-tech markets are expected to triple in size, to more than 2 trillion dollars in 2035, and the EU has a chance of becoming a leader in developing these markets.
Both energy-intensive industries and clean tech sectors are central to achieving EU climate goals while ensuring the EU remains resilient and economically dynamic. The upcoming Act aims to speed up the decarbonisation of Europe’s industest by streamlining permitting, improving access to clean energy and supporting key low-carbon projects. It also seeks to link competitiveness and decarbonisation effectively by creating lead markets for clean industrial products.
In 2026, several pieces of legislation are expected to be released such as the proposal for an Industest Decarbonisation Bank, a Circular Economy Act as well as the revisions of the Procurements Directive and the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). Thus, the Industrial Accelerator Act should not be considered of as an isolated piece of legislation. To decarbonise EU energy-intensive industries in time, and to effectively support the deployment of clean technologies, EU legislators will required to consider the following recommfinishations while drafting the Industrial Accelerator Act:
- Be embedded in regulatory stability to guarantee long-term investment
- Promote circularity and material efficiency for energy-intensive industries
- Create lead markets for clean industrial products and circular materials
- Invest in green technologies that are proven to be effective and straightforward-to-scale
- Align funding for industest with decarbonisation and social commitments
- Include all relevant stakeholders in the decision-building process
- Develop EU clean tech industries without adding new permitting rules
- Be linked to the carbon pricing framework to provide an effective incentive for industest to decarbonise and build sure polluters pay
