EU Rules Out Production Aid In Blow To Battery & Cleantech Industry - CleanTechnica

The European Commission’s newly published state-aid rules, known as CISAF, have been criticized as a setback for the EU cleantech and battery industry. The rules maintain a ban on production aid—subsidies tied directly to units produced—despite the US successfully using such aid to build a competitive battery sector. While CISAF allows governments to take equity stakes in cleantech companies, eases aid for projects approved by the EU Innovation Fund, and conditions foreign automotive investment aid on intellectual property and skills transfer, these measures are viewed as insufficient to address the EU’s lack of competitiveness in cleantech manufacturing. Critics, including green group Transport & Environment (T&E), argue that the EU missed an opportunity to implement simple, predictable, and bankable production aid similar to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was promised by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. T&E highlights that although €1.8 billion remains earmarked for batteries under the Innovation Fund, and there