The future of European industry Green and Lean
On 6 February, 2026, EIRES hosted a special edition of its semiannual EnergyDays symposium. The afternoon took place marking the thesis defense of Clara Caiafa, researcher at the Technology, Innovation, and Society research group, for which she was awarded a cum laude earlier that day. In lively presentations and a panel discussion, speakers from government, industry and research discussed the question: What future does industry have in a climate-neutral country?
After a brief introduction by chair of the day Heleen de Coninck, first promotor of Clara, Mohammed Chahim took the stage for the first presentation. Mohammed Chahim is a Member of the European Parliament for GroenLinks-PvdA, and as Vice-President of the Socialists and Democrats group responsible for the Green Deal on Industry, Energy & Climate and Financing the Just Transition.
He started off by emphasizing that despite recent adjustments to the Green Deal, the fundament under it is the European Climate Law. ‘All 27 member states have embraced this law, which states that the EU strives for 55 percent reduction of net greenhouse gas emissions in 2030, and climate neutrality in 2050.’
Relocation
A recent update states that in 2040 we aim for 90 percent greenhouse gas emission reduction, including flexibility. ‘This means that part of the reduction may be realized outside of the EU,’ Chahim explained. To this end, the EU has developed CBAM, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. ‘This policy puts a fair price on carbon emitted during production of goods, and is meant to prevent carbon leakage, where companies relocate production to countries with weaker climate standards. While CBAM will be phased in, free allowance will be phased out. That means that the full carbon price has to be paid for products, urging the heavy polluting industry to be decarbonized by 2040,’ he stated. (Emissions Trading System free allowances are permits to emit one ton of CO2 given to industries for free to prevent them from relocating, ed).
According to Chahim, Europe’s industry policy should focus on green relocation: moving energy-intensive industrial production to regions with abundant, low-cost renewable energy. ‘We need to introduce large carbon prices for polluters, whether they are inside or outside of EU. New policies are coming to achieve this, like the Clean Industrial Act, the Industrial Accelerator Act, and the Circular Economy Act.’
Choose or lose
Henri de Groot, professor in Regional Economic Dynamics at the Department of Spatial Economics at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and member of the Scientific Climate Council (WKR), shifted the focus from Europe to the Netherlands. He presented a recent advice by the WKR on the future of industry in our country, themed ‘To choose or to lose.’ The main message of the report is that not everything fits in this country, and that hard choices need to be made.
‘For the Netherlands, at the moment the climate goals are not within reach. Historically, we have grown a huge and successful energy intensive sector, in which vested interests are tremendous. But the world has changed. Perhaps other locations are now better suited to produce certain energy intensive things.’
The WKR recommends a green industry policy that explicitly chooses for a sustainable future, implements time consistency in policies, creates profitable green options, and is coordinated at European level. Or, as De Groot put it: ‘Be clear on which industries can have a future in the Netherlands. And for others: accept the disciplinary forces of the market. There is a clear and green future for some industries in the Netherlands, provided that we have the guts to choose.’
Go where the energy is
In her PhD research, Clara Caiafa studied the socioeconomic and climate change implications of industrial decarbonization via green hydrogen. In her project, she focused on the Dutch steel industry. ‘In order to decarbonize the Dutch steel industry, we can either import green hydrogen or relocate the steel industry to a place where there is more renewable energy available to produce green hydrogen.’
In the end, the comparison of both scenarios revealed that producing steel in a location where there is an abundant amount of renewable energy available for the production of green hydrogen not only leads to lower costs, but also to lower emissions overall. ‘This is true if you relocate to any country where there is a lower carbon intensity in the electricity grid, like Brazil,’ she stated.
Three transitions at once
René Slaghek, member of the Chemelot Sustainability Team, told from his own experience what challenges industrial sites face in transitioning to climate neutral operations by 2050. ‘People only tend to think about the energy transition, but bear in mind that the Brightlands Chemelot Campus needs to achieve three transitions simultaneously: an energy transition, a raw materials transition, and a water transition. Making the campus sustainable by 2050 means that no fossils should be coming in, and that we should be both climate neutral and circular.’
The campus does not start from scratch. ‘Since 1990 we have managed to reduce 45 percent in our greenhouse gas emissions. But we have done all possible cheap things. Now, we are working on the hard part, for example in using waste as a resource. To be successful in our endeavors, we need technology, infrastructure, rules and regulations, and the support from people around us.’ Despite the big challenges ahead, Slaghek is optimistic. ‘This is not our first transition, so we are confident that also this time we will be able to adapt.’
Clarity
During the closing panel discussion, De Coninck summarized some of the main take aways from the presentations: ‘There are national and international justice concerns, we need an emission trading scheme to protect European industry, there is a large diversity in the best way forward for different sectors, and transforming one industrial site alone is already very complex.’
The panel was united in their view that it is impossible and undesirable to keep all of the current energy-intensive industries in our country. Slaghek stated: ‘We need to decide what we really want to produce in the Netherlands and in Europe, and for which products we do not mind to depend on others. Above all, what we need is clarity. Now, investments are hampered by insecurity.’ Chahim added: ‘Even as a left wing politician, in this case I say: believe in market economy. If a company will not be able to make it without subsidies to make up for high energy prices, we should stop investing in it.’