Today, our association, along with key industries working in the European wind turbine blade value chain has co-signed a position paper advocating specific measures to support the objectives of the Net-Zero Industry Act.
Ensuring the resilience and scaling-up of manufacturing capacity for essential input materials like glass fibres, resins, and core materials is crucial for the EU to meet its ambitious targets under the NZIA. These upstream materials play a critical role in advancing wind turbine blade production in the EU.
Currently, the EU market faces challenges due to significant imports from third countries with immense subsidised overcapacities, undercutting EU manufacturers. This imbalance must be rectified for the NZIA measures to start delivering.
We collectively urge EU authorities to:
- Promote Local Content: Adopt policies favouring local content, setting specific requirements (e.g., 70% local content) to enhance supply chain resilience and competitiveness.
- Combat Unfair Trade Practices: Swiftly investigate and impose necessary trade defence measures against subsidized and dumped imports throughout the wind turbine blade value chain.
- Enhance Import Controls: Expand and strengthen customs controls to prevent circumvention and ensure imported products meet environmental, sustainability, and labour standards.
Find more in the position paper available below.