A coalition of European industry players, which includes GravitHy and Hydnum Steel, is calling on the European Commission to strengthen the upcoming Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) and implement demand measures to boost low-carbon industrial products.
E3G, Hydrogen Europe, and Mission Possible Partnership are just some of the 40 organisations also supporting the call.
“Demand-side provisions appear largely confined to public procurement and public support schemes, as well as restricted to a few sectors, namely steel… We strongly support demand-side initiatives for the public sector as an effective lever to create demand. However, the public sector alone cannot create sufficient demand for low-carbon products at scale, and the limited number of sectors targeted risks increasing market fragmentation,” a joint statement seen by Kallanish says.
It adds that the Commission’s internal draft is unclear as to whether low-carbon requirements for public procurement and public schemes would be complementary or subordinated to origin-based criteria.
The signatories argue that without stronger market measures that scale up demand, European producers of low-carbon products will struggle to compete globally.
They recommend a range of policy tools, including EU harmonised product standards, mandatory green public procurement with minimum content quotas for low-carbon and EU/EEA origin requirements, and mechanisms to stimulate private demand through mandates and financial de-risking instruments.
The IAA is expected to play a key role in implementing parts of the European Commission’s Clean Industrial Deal by scaling up low-carbon manufacturing and creating competitive conditions for European products.
The signatories warn that simply relying on public sector procurement will be insufficient to drive the transition to net-zero technologies. They say that stronger demand instruments will help secure investment, maintain jobs and attract new players to Europe’s clean industrial value chains.
The IAA is currently under development and expected to be presented by the Commission as part of its 2026 work programme.
GravitHy is building a green hydrogen-based direct reduced iron and hot-briquetted iron plant in Fos-sur-Mer, Southern France. The facility is projected to produce up to 2 million tonnes/year of DRI and HBI, fed with hydrogen produced by a 750 MW electrolyser (see Kallanish passim).
