Rethink Plastic provides feedback on the Industrial Accelerator Act

The Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) is considered one of the key pieces of the European Commission’s Clean Industrial Deal. The proposal, in its explanatory memorandum, outlines some of the main issues European industries are currently facing from “the weaponisation of EU dependencies of trading partners” to high energy prices.

Initially announced as a way to accelerate the decarbonisation of European industry, the IAA has been reduced to an instrument aimed more generally at boosting a re-industrialisation process without sector-specific plans. While the initial decarbonisation focus alone would not have been enough to address the complexities of a fair and just transition that includes defossilisation,
decarbonisation and detoxification, it could have represented an opportunity to move a first step in this direction.

The scope of this proposal extends to plastic production, a sector that is already facing significant challenges both in terms of overcapacity and because of the huge impacts of its full supply chain on the environment, climate and the health of communities across the globe, both near and far from production facilities.