Ireland is holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU from July to December 2026. This presidency starts in a context where Europe was again, following the war in Iran and the crisis in the Straight of Hormuz, confronted to its vulnerability and strategic dependencies in particular when it comes from fossil feedstocks like oil and gas. The continent also continues to face strong pressure on its industries in light of global competition, for example from Asian countries. Several initiatives tabled recently are addressing directly the issue, like the AccelerateEU Communication or the proposal for an Industrial Accelerator Act, and many more are in the pipeline like the ETS review, the Circular Economy Act, the post-2030 renewable energy framework, the Biotech Acts or the package on CO2 markets and transport infrastructures.
A Strategic Opportunity to Reduce Europe’s Fossil Dependency
Many of those initiatives converge in a common logic: Europe depends too much on fossil imports and clean technologies deployment (electrification, circularity, defossilisation, carbon capture…) are a key way to reduce those dependencies. The momentum is there to take stock of current rules, confirm orientations that have been successful, and correct course for what has failed to upscale alternative to fossil fuels.
Putting Carbon Capture and Utilisation at the Heart of EU Industrial Policy
Our call to the Irish authorities is the following: all those incoming EU discussions and negotiations offer clear opportunities to reduce the EU dependency on imported fossil feedstocks. Creating incentives for clean alternatives, such as carbon capture & utilisation (CCU) technologies, is absolutely essential to drive investments into projects that will help defossilise the EU economy.
The Irish presidency is starting at a pivotal moment for those legislative discussions: adopting ambitious rules that are adapted to industrial and market realities can make a real difference in the short and medium term. As an illustration, adopting a definition for sustainable carbon sources and sustainable carbon products under the Industrial Accelerator Act will go a very long way, as well as accompanying those definitions with market-pull mechanisms. A second example is the ETS revision: the process starting now is the perfect opportunity to put a fair price on virgin fossil carbon, and create a level playing field with alternatives like recycled content, bio-based content, or captured carbon content.
The rules must be clear-cut, ambitious, but also readable and understandable – and the Irish can be a driving force to deliver simple and game-changing rules.
Working Together for a More Resilient European Economy
We are looking forward to engage with Irish authorities and help shaping rules that can protect Europeans, drive investments into clean tech projects, and increase the continent’s resilience in an increasingly uncertainty global context.
Our full statement to the Irish Presidency of the EU is available here.
