largelast summer European leaders are starting to hear the big suck. The source of the hustle and bustle? Inflation Reduction Act (Irish Republican Army), a 725-page law passed in August aimed at accelerating the decarbonization of the United States. They worry that Europe’s nascent clean-tech industry will be swept across the Atlantic by promised handouts, totaling some $400 billion over a decade.To prevent this from happening, some European Union Politicians argue that the bloc must at least work with Irish Republican ArmySum.
So far, the noise has mainly come from the heads of politicians. Concerns about a green drain have receded. When the continent’s heads of government gathered in Brussels recently, they didn’t pour billions more into solving the problem. European Unionof greening efforts—already comparable to Irish Republican Army in their generosity. Nor have they (for now) further watered down the rules against state aid, which would encourage profligate member states. Instead, they focused on improving the efficiency of the systems that hand out cash.
In the eyes of its European fans, Irish Republican Army Its size is smaller than its simplicity. The rules are the same everywhere in the US. If the company meets the criteria, such as investing in a targeted industry, then obtaining tax credits, grants or soft loans will be simple. The law sets aside funds for specific technologies, such as solar energy or carbon capture and storage (see chart). Producers of “green” hydrogen using renewable energy can receive tax credits of up to $3 per kilogram of gas.
It is unthinkable to fully replicate this setup in Europe.this European Union May see itself as an ever-closer union, but taxation is still a state matter, which precludes tax incentives across the continent.If member states want to offer their own credits or other subsidies, they usually need approval from the European Commission, which is tasked with ensuring a level playing field European Unionsingle market. For the resulting murmur of national planning, European Union A number of EU-wide grant schemes have recently been added, such as InvestEuropean Union and innovation funds to support clean technologies.
Craig Douglas of the venture capital firm World Foundation said the results were staggering, especially for smaller companies that needed capital to scale up their projects. European Unionsubsidy bureaucracy. To stand a chance of being selected for one of many funding rounds, startups often have to hire expensive consulting firms to help them write funding proposals. “We need at least four full-time people working on this problem,” explains Vaitea Cowan, co-founder of Enapter, a maker of electrolyzers that make hydrogen.
After an application is submitted, it can take months or years for a decision to be made. In the case of Plastic Energy, which recycles plastic waste, its boss, Carlos Monreal, said it used to take so long that “we had to file again because of the delays that we missed.” deadline”. Decisions are often left unexplained. “It’s a black box. There should be a dialogue,” says Henrik Henriksson, CEO of h2 Green Steel, is building a steel mill powered by green hydrogen in northern Sweden.and European UnionGreen subsidies are often poorly targeted. Jules Besnainou of the European cleantech industry group points out that most of the money is not going to start-ups in continental Europe, which tend to be more innovative, but to large, established players that don’t always need government support.
The commission’s draft “Green Deal Industry Plan,” published on Feb. 1, seeks to address these shortcomings.The program aims to simplify European Union Plan and streamline the approval process for national green finance instruments in Brussels. It proposes an “administratively easy” auction for green hydrogen producers: the winner would receive a premium per kilogram of gas produced over ten years, based on their bid. The plan will provide incentives totaling 800 million euros ($860 million).this Irish Republican Army obviously shocked European Union Jeromin Zettelmeyer, head of Brussels think tank Bruegel, said its green subsidies should be considered more seriously.
Maybe so. Still, those who read the eight pages devoted to “Accelerating Access to Financial Services,” which mentions no fewer than a dozen different acronym-rich programs, might be forgiven for not holding their breath. Claudio Spadaccini, CEO Energy Dome, an Italian company that uses liquid carbon dioxide to store energy, has approved European Unionmove, but still wants to take advantage of Irish Republican Army. Ms. Cowan of Enapter, whose company has just built a factory in Germany, has since Irish Republican Army was passed. “They’re rolling out the red carpet,” she said. Whoosh. ■
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