Policy briefs

Industrial decarbonisation in the Basque Country (Spain) is guided by Act 1/2024 on Energy Transition and Climate Change and Industry Plan – Euskadi 2030. This makes decarbonisation a legal, economic, and industrial agenda with quantified 2030 targets, clearer obligations for companies, and a public-private mechanism for mobilising investment. Act 1/2024 commits the Basque Country to climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest, with an explicit effort to bring this target forward to 2045 while setting intermediate targets for 2030: a 45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to 2005, at least 12% final energy savings relative to 2021, and a minimum 32% share of renewables in final energy consumption. In parallel, the Industry Plan – Euskadi 2030 serves as a vehicle for a public budget of around EUR 3.9 billion expected to leverage another EUR 12 billion in private investments, to transform the Basque industrial base.

Based on insights from the TRANSIENCE project, this brief proposes five key policy priorities: ensuring that delivered clean energy is affordable for industry; recognising shared infrastructure as a central industrial policy lever; aligning decarbonisation pathways with the specific conditions of each sector; integrating competitiveness, circularity, and social acceptability into technology assessments; and leveraging the Industry Plan’s transformative projects as the main mechanism for industrial decarbonisation.