Two sides of the same green coin? A legal analysis of the concept of the (green) industrial competitiveness of the Union through the Net-Zero Industry Act
(2025) LAGM01 20241Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- In the global race against climate change, the answer of the European Union is the transition towards a green economy by focusing on strengthening the competitiveness of the net-zero technology industry and securing the necessary critical materials. To do so, the Union presented two legislative acts in the European Green Deal Industrial Plan in 2023, amongst which the Net-Zero Industry Act. While the proposed act was presented as a tool to increase the competitiveness of the Union, it highlighted the absence of a common legal understanding and definition of what ‘industrial competitiveness’ entails in accordance with EU law.
Thus, by using a legal dogmatic method in combination with the European legal method, this thesis explores the... (More) - In the global race against climate change, the answer of the European Union is the transition towards a green economy by focusing on strengthening the competitiveness of the net-zero technology industry and securing the necessary critical materials. To do so, the Union presented two legislative acts in the European Green Deal Industrial Plan in 2023, amongst which the Net-Zero Industry Act. While the proposed act was presented as a tool to increase the competitiveness of the Union, it highlighted the absence of a common legal understanding and definition of what ‘industrial competitiveness’ entails in accordance with EU law.
Thus, by using a legal dogmatic method in combination with the European legal method, this thesis explores the legal understanding of the term industrial competitiveness according to Union law and how the legislative act embeds the concept of industrial competitiveness of the Union’s industry as required by Article 173 TFEU. Moreover, thesis aims at exploring in what way the proposed actions help us understand how the term is to be interpreted according to Union law, and how the increased environmental considerations en-shrined in European Green Deal and the European Green Deal Industrial Plan has affected the content of the proposed legislative act and the understanding of industrial competitiveness.
The thesis concludes that there is no acknowledged or legal definition of what industrial competitiveness is but rather an ever-evolving understanding of what fosters the competitiveness of the industry by taking into account the structural changes of the market, the changing external circumstances and a cross-sectional nature. Nevertheless, the industrial policy of the Union revolves around the further integration of the Single Market and is dependent of a stable and clear regulatory framework, the importance of funding to target the market failures and the innovation and technological development in order to seize market opportunities and maintain the global competitiveness.
Moreover, a high level of environmental protection has been held to be prosperous for the industrial competitiveness of the Union, and the findings of this thesis point to a high protection of the environment as one of the goals enshrined in Article 173(1) TFEU, relating to structural change. Hence, in that light, the Net-Zero Industry Act clearly enshrines the goal of current industrial policy, both due to its content of the above tools for industrial policy but also due to its strong environmental considerations, which are visible both through the net-zero strategic projects, the overarching goal of ensuring the European Climate Law, the benchmarks contained and its focus on strengthening the net-zero manufacturing industry and the decarbonization of the industry. Hence, the Net-Zero Industry Act may be said to give expression of the term of industrial competitiveness within the meaning of Article 173 TFEU. (Less) - Popular Abstract (Swedish)
- I den pågående kampen mot klimathotet har Europeiska unionen antagit en ledande roll för att fullfölja skiftet mot en grön ekonomi, bland annat genom att fokusera på att stärka konkurrenskraften avseende tillverkningen av netto-noll energiindustrin och säkra de nödvändiga råvarorna för denna omställning. För att möjliggöra detta presenterade den Europeiska kommissionen i mars 2023, i samband med publiceringen av Industriplanen för den gröna given, förordning 2024/1735 om nettonollindustrin. Förordningen presenterades som ett verktyg för att stärka unionsindustrins konkurrensförmåga, men i samband med dess publikation uppmärksammades avsaknaden av en gemensam definition eller förståelse för begreppets juridiska innebörd i enlighet med... (More)
- I den pågående kampen mot klimathotet har Europeiska unionen antagit en ledande roll för att fullfölja skiftet mot en grön ekonomi, bland annat genom att fokusera på att stärka konkurrenskraften avseende tillverkningen av netto-noll energiindustrin och säkra de nödvändiga råvarorna för denna omställning. För att möjliggöra detta presenterade den Europeiska kommissionen i mars 2023, i samband med publiceringen av Industriplanen för den gröna given, förordning 2024/1735 om nettonollindustrin. Förordningen presenterades som ett verktyg för att stärka unionsindustrins konkurrensförmåga, men i samband med dess publikation uppmärksammades avsaknaden av en gemensam definition eller förståelse för begreppets juridiska innebörd i enlighet med EU-rätten.
Därmed är syftet med denna uppsats att, genom en kombination av rättdogma-tisk och EU-rättslig metod, undersöka den juridiska innebörden av termen ‘unionsindustrins konkurrensförmåga’ som krävs av Artikel 173 FEUF. Dessutom ämnar uppsatsen även att undersöka huruvida en vidare analys av förordningen om nettonollindustrin kan bistå i tolkningen av begreppet, samt på vilket sätt de hållbarhetsåtaganden som unionens industriella politik har kännetecknats av de senaste åren, så som kommit till uttryck i den gröna given och den gröna givens industriplan, har påverkat begreppet samt innehållet i den nya förordningen.
De resultat som framkommer av uppsatsen tyder på att det saknas en erkänd eller vedertagen definition av vad som utgör unionsindustrins konkurrensförmåga och att denna i själva verket avgörs av övergripande och dynamisk mål-sättning som återspeglar de strukturella förändringar som marknaden och omvärlden genomgår. Dock har studien identifierat återkommande unionsrättsliga verktyg som används för att säkerställa de nödvändiga förutsättningarna för en sund unionsrättslig industriell strategi, vilket inkluderar en vidare integrat-ion av den inre marknaden, upprätthållandet av stabila regelverk, vikten av finansiella verktyg för att tillmötesgå eventuella marknadsmisslyckanden samt fokusera på innovation och teknologisk progression för att fånga framtida möjligheter till konkurrensfördelar.
Dessutom framkommer det även av studien att miljörättsliga hänsynstaganden har utgjort en del av den unionsrättsliga industriella strategin sedan 90-talet i samband med EU-kommissionens publikationer och att Artikel 173(1) FEUF utgör en tolkningsgrund för höga miljöåtaganden genom den första målsätt-ningen att ‘påskynda industrins anpassning till målsättningar’. Dessutom kan förordningen om nettonollindustrin sägas ge uttryck för unionsindustrins konkurrensförmåga, vilket framgår både av innehållet av traditionella industrifrämjande rättsliga verktyg, samt de hållbarhetsrelaterade verktyg som lagen innehåller, bland annat i form av klimatåtaganden samt stärkandet av nettonoll-industrin inom unionen. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9214664
- author
- Consiglio, Annika LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- LAGM01 20241
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Industrial policy, industrial competitiveness, Article 173 TFEU, European Green Deal, European Green Deal Industrial Plan, Net-Zero Industry Act, NZIA
- language
- English
- id
- 9214664
- date added to LUP
- 2025-11-12 12:46:48
- date last changed
- 2025-11-12 12:46:48
@misc{9214664,
abstract = {{In the global race against climate change, the answer of the European Union is the transition towards a green economy by focusing on strengthening the competitiveness of the net-zero technology industry and securing the necessary critical materials. To do so, the Union presented two legislative acts in the European Green Deal Industrial Plan in 2023, amongst which the Net-Zero Industry Act. While the proposed act was presented as a tool to increase the competitiveness of the Union, it highlighted the absence of a common legal understanding and definition of what ‘industrial competitiveness’ entails in accordance with EU law.
Thus, by using a legal dogmatic method in combination with the European legal method, this thesis explores the legal understanding of the term industrial competitiveness according to Union law and how the legislative act embeds the concept of industrial competitiveness of the Union’s industry as required by Article 173 TFEU. Moreover, thesis aims at exploring in what way the proposed actions help us understand how the term is to be interpreted according to Union law, and how the increased environmental considerations en-shrined in European Green Deal and the European Green Deal Industrial Plan has affected the content of the proposed legislative act and the understanding of industrial competitiveness.
The thesis concludes that there is no acknowledged or legal definition of what industrial competitiveness is but rather an ever-evolving understanding of what fosters the competitiveness of the industry by taking into account the structural changes of the market, the changing external circumstances and a cross-sectional nature. Nevertheless, the industrial policy of the Union revolves around the further integration of the Single Market and is dependent of a stable and clear regulatory framework, the importance of funding to target the market failures and the innovation and technological development in order to seize market opportunities and maintain the global competitiveness.
Moreover, a high level of environmental protection has been held to be prosperous for the industrial competitiveness of the Union, and the findings of this thesis point to a high protection of the environment as one of the goals enshrined in Article 173(1) TFEU, relating to structural change. Hence, in that light, the Net-Zero Industry Act clearly enshrines the goal of current industrial policy, both due to its content of the above tools for industrial policy but also due to its strong environmental considerations, which are visible both through the net-zero strategic projects, the overarching goal of ensuring the European Climate Law, the benchmarks contained and its focus on strengthening the net-zero manufacturing industry and the decarbonization of the industry. Hence, the Net-Zero Industry Act may be said to give expression of the term of industrial competitiveness within the meaning of Article 173 TFEU.}},
author = {{Consiglio, Annika}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Two sides of the same green coin? A legal analysis of the concept of the (green) industrial competitiveness of the Union through the Net-Zero Industry Act}},
year = {{2025}},
}