Speech by Commissioner Hoekstra at the inaugural ceremony of the Innovation Fund project GO4ZERO

Speech by Hoekstra at the ceremony of GO4ZERO project

Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to be here today with you.

Dear Prime Minister, beste Alexander, it is also a great pleasure to be here on the stage again with you.

For both of us it is always a reminder of the time when we were young and innocent, and we were together Finance Ministers in another era.

Thank you truly from the bottom of my heart for your leadership to Belgium, but also to the European Union.

I think what you said is absolutely spot on. Because a couple of things in life go together, and that is the difficulty, but also the beauty of a public service.

The solution is never a single thing. It is never one dimension. That is particularly True in the domain we are facing now.

So, what is it that we need to combine? Well, one clearly is climate action, because there is no alternative.

And don't take the word of any politician for it. Don't take my word for it. It is what a scientific body tells us. There is no alternative.

But as the Prime Minister has said, it is of the utmost importance that we marry this, that we bridge this, with a couple of other things. You need to bridge this with competitiveness, with innovation, with jobs. It is of the utmost importance and essence.

Third, you need to make sure that there is the element of the just transition. Because the vast majority of Europeans is all-in on climate action. I think roughly 80% thinks that we need to do more.

And yet a significant part of our citizens also tells us that they are worried what the transition might imply for them. So keeping jobs, making sure that regions can prosper is of the utmost importance.

Then, the fourth and the last element I would add to that is that we cannot do this alone. Europe is roughly responsible for 7% of global emissions. That is not to say that we shouldn't do our utmost to drive down this 7%.

But the reality is also such that the other 93% should be in scope as well. If we do not touch the other 93%, we still have a huge problem, also in Europe, because actually climate change is indiscriminate.

So thank you for that and I very much agree with what the Prime Minister just said.

It is indeed True. I was walking around and to me it was a source of optimism to see the solutions we, and actually the people here working, are bringing to the table.

There are many reasons to be depressed and worried about the tremendous impact of climate change. It is moving into the financial domain, it is moving into the geopolitical domain, and unfortunately it will get worse before it gets better.

But if you are then here today and you look at the solutions, and people being solutions-oriented, and the impact that we could potentially have, I cannot help to be optimistic. Leaving with more of a beat in my step than when I arrived.

Then, you are actually touching on an extremely important part of the equation. I just mentioned the 7% for Europe. If you look at the whole cement industry, worldwide it is the exact same number as the European Union combined. It is huge.

So, if you want to tackle the problem, this is a very good sector to start. Clearly it is not the only one. Clearly everyone has to contribute. But if we do manage to tackle the problem here, and we scale it up, we have a huge step made in terms of progress.

To me today also shows the creativity of the European clean tech industry. The Prime Minister was already referring to Antwerp. That was an excellent summit and it indeed showed that the leadership is there from European companies to embark on that, and continue on that combination of climate action, innovation, and making sure competitiveness is there.

And the main thing they then asked from us as policy makers at a regional level, at a national level, at a European level: please give us predictability. Don't shift course while we are actually planning for our investments. I think that is a very fair ask.

Let me also assure you, as the Prime Minister just said, that for the European Union, as for every single government, there is no alternative than to make sure this type of industries are going to be at an even better level and are going to blossom going forward.

We will make sure that this type of industries will continue to be absolutely European. So long-term predictability, making sure the industries stay over here, and making sure we touch upon all elements of the equation.

Let me now move to carbon capture, utilization, and storage. Clearly, and no one is thinking it is, it's not the only thing you can do. I have said before, you cannot ‘CCS' yourself out of the problem. It's much more complicated, and there is a lot we need to do in terms of driving down emissions.

But having said that, if you look at the hardest to abate sectors, this truly is a fantastic thing to embark on. And that is why I am so glad that we are here at the very frontier of this technique.

For me, therefore, Holcim's GO4ZERO project is the industrial translation of the European Green Deal and the EU's ambitions.

I already mentioned that globally, cement is so tremendously important, not only as an industry, but also as a sector we should touch when driving down emissions. But construction in Europe also is an absolute economic powerhouse. It employs, directly and indirectly, I think roughly 25 million people, and it contributes to roughly 10% of the EU's GDP.

That is why, we seek to continue with the clean tech dialogues. That is why, we think it is tremendously important to further advance precisely the type of work we are doing over here.

That brings me to the numbers. It was already referred to, the beauty, the innovation, and the forward movement of this project merits that we are spending 230 million, which is quite a substantial sum of public money, European taxpayers' money, through the innovation fund in this project.

We are getting that money, as I am sure you know, from our Emission Trading System. I am of the school, we are always of the school, to always make sure that you should spend public money wisely. But, as the Prime Minister said, we do need to invest, and we do need to invest particularly in the future. That is why, I am so delighted that we are doing that over here and that we are doing that in this project.

If you then look up the total of numbers, you will find that with over 500 million euros, GO4ZERO ranks in the top three of the largest firm investments of the past ten years in Wallonia. I think that also shows the commitment not only to innovation, but also to just transition and making sure we are there for every region in the European Union.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me wrap up. I think it is fantastic to have the support of local authorities, of the national authorities, and I hope that as a European Union, we are contributing our fair share as well.

We have a generational responsibility to make sure we get this whole difficult but pivotally important equation right: with climate action, with innovation, with competitiveness, with making sure that there is a just transition, and doing it together with the friends and partners from all across the world.

Thanks to the tremendous leadership that has gathered here today.

Thanks to all the people at this great company and in this community.

I wish you well and it was a pleasure and an honour to be here with you.

And I am very much looking forward to the remainder of the day.