European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament on Wednesday the race to clean technologies is on and the EU must act, Kallanish reports.

In a speech preceding the publication of the proposals for the Net-Zero Industry Act and the Critical Raw Materials Act on 15 March, she said: “The global market for net-zero technologies is set to triple by 2030. In other words: the race is on. The race of who is going to be dominant in this market in the future.”

The official highlighted that the EU has managed to address a few issues concerning the US’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) with counterparties, but that negotiations alone wouldn’t secure the EU’s competitiveness and position in the race.

“We must get our act together if we want to stay frontrunners,” she says, adding the need for speed, simplification and funding. “By 2030, we want Europe to be able to produce at least 40% of its clean tech.”

President Von der Leyen says the upcoming proposals will deliver just that. The long-anticipated Net-Zero Industry Act promises to speed up and simplify permitting and funding, while the Critical Raw Materials Act should help secure the critical materials needed for the green transition from “like-minded partners.”

The official said that the EU is overdependent on China, with 98% of its rare earth needs and 97% of its lithium consumption coming from the Asian giant.

Last week, the EU and the US confirmed European made electric vehicles will have access to the US market and its incentives; and that they started negotiations to enable EU mine/processed materials to be treated as if they were US materials.