The EU and the US announce a dialogue on clean energy and agree to work on access to critical raw materials

10 ()

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced this Friday from Washington an agreement on clean energy with the United States and stressed that both parties will work on access to critical raw materials.

“We welcome the Inflation Reduction Law because it is a massive investment in the green transition that seeks a zero carbon emission economy,” he said at a press conference from Washington, adding that this decision is similar to the Green Pact European.

Von der Leyen, with the aim of softening the possible impact of the US Inflation Reduction Act, has also announced, after a meeting with President Joe Biden, the launch of a dialogue on “incentives for clean energy”.

Subsequently, in a joint statement sent by the White House, they have indicated that both parties will deepen “the diversification of supply chains” in terms of “batteries and critical minerals.”

“Cooperation is also necessary to reduce unwanted strategic dependencies in these supply chains, and to ensure that they diversify,” they said, adding that the parties will take steps to avoid “any disruption in transatlantic trade,” as well as in investment flows.

“We are committed to achieving an ambitious outcome in the Global Agreement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum negotiations by October 2023 (which) will ensure the long-term viability of our industries, encourage production and trade in low-carbon steel and aluminum.” carbon intensity and restore market-oriented conditions globally and bilaterally.”

As the organization Transport & Environment (T&E) warned in a statement, due to the Inflation Reduction Law, 68 percent of the projects planned in Europe for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries are in jeopardy. Specifically, a battery production capacity equivalent to 18 million electric cars (1.2 terawatt hours) “runs a high or medium risk” of being interrupted or lost.

“Without this expansion, Europe will not be able to meet its demand for batteries in 2030 and will have to import them from foreign competition,” said T&E, which evaluated the 50 gigafactories announced in the Old Continent based on their financing and permits, whether they had been secured a location and the companies’ ties to the United States.

SUPPORT TO UKRAINE

The head of the Community Executive has also stated at a press conference that she has discussed the war in Ukraine with Biden. “We will continue to support Ukraine and diminish Russia’s ability to wage war,” she said on her Twitter profile.

Von der Leyen has also pointed out before entering the meeting that the EU and the United States are not only partners, but “good friends”. “They helped us enormously when we wanted to get rid of Russia’s dependence on fossil fuels; to deliver more liquefied natural gas; to overcome the energy crisis,” he listed.

Thus, Von der Leyen has ruled that both countries are “strongly allied” against Moscow in the context of the war in Ukraine and defending common values. “We are making Russia pay for its atrocious war,” she has said.

In the joint statement, they have also underlined “the important European efforts to diversify their energy supplies and accelerate the energy transition, which have helped limit the impact of the global energy crisis on Europe” in the wake of the war.

Von der Leyen traveled to the United States this Friday as part of a week-long trip to North America that also took her to Canada, where she was received on Tuesday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with whom she agreed to work, among other issues. , to lay the foundations for the development of a reliable hydrogen supply chain between Canada and the EU.

As part of their transatlantic friendship, von der Leyen and Trudeau highlighted joint efforts to support Ukraine against the Russian war of aggression and, marking the recent anniversary of the attack, Trudeau announced that the mission’s engineering training will be extended until October. 2023 and that the Canadian Armed Forces will provide advanced training in combat medicine.