Unveiled by the European Commission on 26 February 2025, the Clean Industrial Deal sets out a comprehensive strategy to bolster the EU’s industrial competitiveness while achieving decarbonization goals. This initiative introduces several legislative measures aimed at facilitating the green transition of European industry. Most notable among these are following:

• Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework – to be proposed in the second quarter of 2025, this framework will, for example, simplify state aid rules in order to accelerate the rollout of renewable energy, deploy industrial decarbonization and ensure sufficient capacity of clean tech manufacturing in Europe.
• Industrial Decarbonization Accelerator Act – this will propose concrete measures to address permitting bottlenecks related to industrial access to energy and industrial decarbonization.
• European Grids Package – this package aims to simplify the Trans-European Networks for Energy, ensure cross-border integrated planning and delivery of projects, streamline permitting, enhance distribution grid planning, boost digitalization and innovation as well as increase visibility and prioritization of manufacturing supply needs. The package is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2026.
• Revision of the Public Procurement Framework – scheduled for 2026, this revision will allow for sustainability, resilience and European preference criteria in EU public procurement for strategic sectors.
• Revision of the Energy Taxation Directive – this is part of the Affordable Energy Action Plan introduced by the Clean Industrial Deal aims to reduce energy bills and accelerate structural reforms.

In addition to the above, the communication of the European Commission also mentioned a legislative proposal to extend the Gas Storage Regulation in the first quarter of 2025 and various guidance and recommendations that could lead to future legislative actions.