The plenary of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has officially adopted the opinion “A Just Transition for all EU regions” led by the rapporteur, ECR CoR President Marco Marsilio, stressing the importance of affirming a technologically neutral approach to the green transition to avoid serious repercussions on Europe’s industry and workers.
“If we want to achieve some of the most ambitious transition targets, for example in the automotive sector, we should stop banning productive activities that are in the process of transition, such as the production of combustion engine vehicles". Instead, the "right incentives" and support for research and "innovation to new solutions, such as biofuels" should be put in place, stated Mr Marsilio.
The opinion highlights the vitality of the automotive sector, which provides direct or indirect employment to 13.8 million Europeans and accounts for 7% of EU GDP, and urges the European Commission to consider an earlier review of the legislation setting CO2 emission targets for new passenger cars and vans, still in 2025, to provide European automakers with sufficient time to adjust. Furthermore, it highlights the potential of climate-neutral biofuels to be used for internal combustion engines, providing a sustainable alternative to traditional fuels.
The Abruzzo region President described the EU's ambitious transition to a climate-neutral economy as "an enormous task" which is having increasingly "profound implications" for Europe's regions, workers, industries and society at large. With this in mind, Mr Marsilio called for a transition that is "based on technology neutrality and managed in a gradual and balanced way”.
The opinion calls for an assessment of the "optimal time frames and extra economic resources needed" to achieve the transition targets, thereby minimising negative impacts on the industrial sectors concerned. It also calls for a just transition to become an "essential part of a reformed cohesion policy" that focuses on supporting regions facing the transformation of the most strategic and energy and labour-intensive industries, such as the automotive and component supply industries.