The Net-Zero Industry Act
The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) welcomes the NZIA as the key instrument to move towards a competitive, sustainable and resilient EU net-zero industry. The enforcement of the legal framework for NZIA’s implementation is particularly timely, given the global challenges faced by PV manufacturers.
The Net-Zero Industry Act
The Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), adopted by the European Council on May 27th, 2024, has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union and entered into force as of June 29th, 2024, across all 27 EU Member States. The NZIA specifies non-pricing criteria (resilience and sustainability) and tolerance of price differences of up to 20% in public procurements and up to 15% in auctions. It also includes pre-qualification criteria for environmental sustainability and resilience, including selective criteria (social considerations, cybersecurity, timely delivery).
ESMC strongly advocates for the early implementation of NZIA provisions in Member States public procurements and auctions. In early May, 2024, ESMC urged Member States, signatories of the European Solar Charter, to commit by the declaration to quantitative off-take of resilient and sustainable EU PV modules and has gained substantial support already. ESMC is continuously making efforts in mobilising the Member States for the respective commitments. With the NZIA now effective, it is crucial to take concrete actions to advance its implementation as currently the European PV manufacturing industry is dependent on fast and comprehensive applicability of NZIA provisions.
Latest ESMC NZIA policy position paper
Žygimantas Vaičiūnas
ESMC Policy Director
For more information:
vaiciunas@esmc.solar
ESMC proposals for the NZIA Implementing Act
ESMC urgently request the European Commission to swiftly adopt NZIA Implementing Act to safeguard EU PV module producers and associated parts of the value chain, and recommend that the resilience and sustainability criteria should be based on two-tier approach — first of all as a pre-qualification criteria, to be followed by an award criteria for those products that exceed the minimum pre-qualification criteria.
NZIA implementation
All ESMC efforts towards implementation of the legislation
All ESMC efforts towards implementation of the legislation
ESMC proposals for the NZIA Implementing act
ESMC urgently request the European Commission to swiftly adopt NZIA Implementing Act to safeguard EU PV module producers and associated parts of the value chain, and recommend that the resilience and sustainability criteria should be based on two-tier approach — first of all as a pre-qualification criteria, to be followed by an award criteria for those products that exceed the minimum pre-qualification criteria.
Implementation of the NZIA Proposition for sustainability, social and resilience criteria
In this paper, ESMC make general recommendation on the NZIA implementation and propose a first set of criteria to be used for strengthening the build-up of European sustainable solar supply chain, thus contributing to an ambitious implementation of the NZIA directive. These criteria should be seen as a toolbox for Member States and public authorities to create strong mechanism in order to achieve the 40% goal set in Art.5.1 (a).
Invitation to the EU Member States for an early implementation of NZIA
An example of the letter ESMC sent to all EU Member States proposing a follow-up action of the signature of the European Solar Charter to join a coalition of Member States for putting in place quantitative commitments to off-take resilient and sustainable European produced PV modules in projects via public procurements, auctions and other forms of public intervention.
NZIA preparation
All ESMC efforts before the legislation adoption
All ESMC efforts before the legislation adoption
NZIA — ESMC proposals for the European Parliament
Proposal to the European Parliament to increase the price difference from 10% to 30%; extend the definition of sustainable PV products and its resilience; define the ceilings for the more expensive European PV manufacturing products up to 40% of the market share, in the NZIA legislative text.
Cross-Industry Call to define binding qualitative criteria in the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA)
To supplement the Industry letter, an open letter by cross-industry alliance, comprising the solar and wind sector, in German was prepared. The objective was to define binding qualitative criteria as part of the negotiations on the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) in the European Council. This letter was disseminated to German political representatives and various media outlets in the country.
Industry Call to Endorse of the Balanced Text Approved by the ITRE Committee
As the plenary vote of the Net-Zero Industry Act approaches, ESMC gathered the PV Manufacturing Industry in a letter strongly urging the European Parliament to cast their votes in favor of the Net Zero Industry Act, especially the version approved by the ITRE Committee of the European Parliament. The letter is signed by 40 manufacturers in the European PV Industry.