Lusatia applies to become a "net zero valley" under EU industrial law

Two weeks after the conclusion of negotiations on the EU's Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA), Lusatia was the first region to submit its application to the responsible EU Commissioner for Industry, Thierry Breton, to become a "Net Zero Valley". This was announced by the Lusatia Round Table on Wednesday. Six mayors from the municipal alliance are currently visiting Brussels to promote Lusatia as an energy region.

The Net-Zero Industry Act is part of the green industrial plan. It is intended to ensure that more clean technologies are produced in the EU. This involves technologies that drive forward the energy transition and cause little to no greenhouse gas emissions.

"The Act is an excellent instrument to enable our Lusatia region to drive forward structural change at the necessary speed," said Christine Herntier, spokesperson for the Lusatia Round Table for Brandenburg's municipalities, to the German Press Agency. She reported that Commissioner Breton had been impressed by the application and the ambitions presented and had promised the Lusatian representatives his active support, including in dialog with the federal and state governments.

With the net-zero industry law, Europe wants to strengthen the attractiveness of its business location through faster approval procedures, more targeted training and further education of and for specialists in net-zero technologies and better market access for technologies "Made-in-Europe".

The meeting between the Lusatian representatives and the responsible Commissioner reportedly came about through the mediation of Christian Ehler, Member of the European Parliament from Brandenburg. According to his own statements, he was significantly involved in the drafting of the law, in which the so-called net zero valleys are anchored. Ehler told dpa that he had reported to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about the meeting and Lusatia's ambitions to become a model region. Von der Leyen had shown great interest, according to Ehler.

Lusatia will do everything in its power to promote the application with many existing projects, Herntier made clear. However, it would also depend on the speed with which the national implementation of the net-zero industry law was carried out by the federal and state governments.