Innovation will play a key role in delivering the low-carbon transition agreed by world leaders in Paris last December. With this in mind the European Commission today hosted a high-level roundtable debate on how to support this at European level.
EU Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, who opened the discussion at the event in Brussels, said: “Europe is already a world leader in many low-carbon technologies but we need to shift gears to make sure that European companies stay on top of the global race to develop and deploy low-carbon technologies. This is not just good for the climate, but equally important for boosting our international competitiveness and creating growth and jobs in Europe”.
The round-table provided an opportunity to discuss the role of the future Innovation Fund. As part of the Commission proposal on the revision of the EU emissions trading system, the Innovation Fund should support first-of-a-kind investments in renewable energy, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and low-carbon innovation in energy intensive industry. It will build on the current programme for low-carbon innovation (known as NER300). The Commission proposes to reserve some 400 million allowances from 2021 onwards for the Innovation Fund. In addition, a further 50 million will be set aside to enable the Innovation Fund to start before 2021.
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