Industrial Accelerator Act: Accelerating, but in which direction?
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The proposed Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) Regulation, published by the European Commission in March 2026, is currently under discussion in the European Parliament. SOLIDAR calls for the text to be strengthened with robust social safeguards, legally binding just transition plans for beneficiary companies, and meaningful participation of workers, trade unions and communities in acceleration projects.
Flagship legislation under the Clean Industrial Deal
The proposed regulation aims to strengthen Europe’s industrial base, reduce dependence on third-country suppliers in strategic sectors, and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy. Its headline target is to increase manufacturing’s share of EU GDP from 14% to 20% by 2035.
To achieve this, the proposal seeks to increase demand for clean industrial products, such as low-carbon cement, steel and aluminium, by introducing “Made in EU” criteria and emissions standards for public procurement and public support schemes. It also introduces conditions for foreign direct investment above €100 million in strategic sectors such as batteries, electric vehicles and solar technologies, including requirements related to local employment and local content. In addition, it aims to simplify, accelerate and digitise the permitting process for manufacturing and industrial decarbonisation projects.
Under the IAA, each Member State would be required to designate at least one Industrial Manufacturing Acceleration Area to boost industrial activity. When designating these areas, Member States should consider corporate climate transition plans where relevant.
SOLIDAR’s recommendations
SOLIDAR supports ambitious action to decarbonise Europe’s economy and strengthen its industrial capacity. However, accelerating industrial investment must go hand in hand with accelerating a just transition to climate neutrality. The IAA should therefore put workers, communities and people at the centre, rather than focusing primarily on industrial competitiveness and growth.
- Industries that serve people, not the other way around
The IAA lacks sufficient provisions to support workers through the transformation of industries or to address the impacts of industrial change on surrounding communities. While some issues may be addressed in the Quality Jobs Act (QJA), expected before the end of 2026, workers’ rights and the well-being of affected communities must be embedded within the IAA itself. The IAA should form part of a broader, comprehensive just transition policy framework to ensure that all EU actions, including the IAA, the QJA, the Circular Economy Act and the Public Procurement Act, contribute to the objectives of a just transition.
Employment impacts resulting from industrial transformation must be anticipated and managed, with robust social safeguards in place to protect and support workers. SOLIDAR calls for binding social conditionalities for all investments supported under the IAA, including European as well as foreign investment. These should include respect for workers’ rights and collective bargaining, the creation and maintenance of quality jobs, fair wages and safe working conditions, meaningful social dialogue and worker participation, and access to training and reskilling during working time and at no cost to workers.
Public support should be subject to transparency, monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, with safeguards to prevent public funding from contributing to job losses, deterioration of working conditions or the relocation of production. Beneficiary companies should demonstrate how supported investments will contribute not only to industrial objectives, but also to quality jobs, workers’ rights, social dialogue and the well-being of affected communities.
- Put decarbonisation back at the heart of the IAA
The proposal was originally presented as the Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act, reflecting the central role that decarbonisation was intended to play. While it remains an objective, it should be more firmly embedded in the IAA’s design and implementation. Acceleration should be understood not simply as speeding up investment and permitting, but as accelerating the transformation of industry towards climate neutrality.
Any company receiving IAA support should be required to have a corporate climate transition plan with binding, measurable and time-bound targets that demonstrate a credible contribution to their decarbonisation pathway. Companies failing to meet this condition should be excluded from IAA support.
Beneficiary companies should also be required to adopt company-level just transition plans setting out how they will anticipate and manage the employment and social impacts of industrial transformation. These should cover, where relevant, workforce reskilling and upskilling, job-to-job transitions, job-quality safeguards and measures to mitigate impacts on workers and surrounding communities.
Moreover, the IAA should build on existing just transition processes and territorial knowledge. The Just Transition Fund (JTF) has already identified territories undergoing industrial and decarbonisation-related transformation and generated valuable experience in assessing their specific needs. This should inform the designation of Acceleration Areas rather than creating parallel processes.
- Meaningful stakeholder participation is a condition for industrial acceleration
The IAA should require meaningful social dialogue in the designation of Acceleration Areas and the development of corporate climate and just transition plans, with the effective participation of trade unions and workers’ representatives. It should also reinforce the rights of workers and their representatives to information, consultation, participation and negotiation, where appropriate.
For projects that affect them, local communities and their representative organisations should have a meaningful say in what is built, where it is built and under which conditions. Evidence suggests that strong regulatory frameworks and meaningful community participation can help accelerate renewable energy and other projects by building trust, identifying concerns early and reducing the risk of conflicts and opposition that can ultimately cause lengthy and costly delays.
A top-down designation of Acceleration Areas, combined with accelerated permitting, risks excluding the people and organisations most directly affected by industrial transformation. The IAA should therefore ensure that participation is early, inclusive, transparent and effective, rather than limited to formal consultation after key decisions have already been taken. Permitting authorities should receive sufficient financial and technical resources to organise meaningful participation and properly assess stakeholder input.
- Move beyond GDP towards sustainable and inclusive well-being
The IAA largely measures industrial progress through increased production and economic output. Yet expanding industrial capacity without addressing material and resource use risks reproducing existing dependencies in new forms. Industrial policy should support a shift towards regenerative, circular and resource-efficient production models that meet people’s needs within planetary boundaries.
The EU has already promoted alternatives and complements to GDP for measuring progress and prosperity. The Commission’s Joint Research Centre has highlighted Sustainable and inclusive Wellbeing metrics for assessing the clean transition, while the European Economic and Social Committee has called for complementary indicators to better capture the social and environmental dimensions of industrial transformation.
The IAA should reflect this approach. Industrial success should not be measured simply by how much Europe produces, but by whether industrial transformation improves people’s lives, strengthens social cohesion and contributes to climate and environmental objectives.
A flagship…sailing in which direction?
The Industrial Accelerator Act can become an important instrument for Europe’s industrial transformation. But the direction of acceleration matters as much as its speed.
SOLIDAR calls for four key changes:
- strong social conditionalities for all public investment supported under the IAA;
- binding climate and just transition plans for beneficiary companies;
- meaningful participation of workers, trade unions and affected communities;
- progress measured through sustainable and inclusive well-being, not GDP alone.
With these safeguards, the IAA can help accelerate an industrial transformation that is not only faster, but fairer, more democratic and genuinely aligned with climate neutrality and social progress.
