On 20 January, the European Parliament Plenary held its first debate on fusion energy titled “Powering Europe’s Future – Advancing the Fusion Industry for Energy Independence and Innovation.” It focused on the need for Europe to remain a leader in fusion energy on the global stage, competitiveness concerns, research and innovation, public-private partnerships, the ITER project, and commercialization prospects.
On January 22, the Fusion Industry Association officially expanded into the European Union, appointing Cyrille Mai Thanh of Dentons Global Affairs as its new Director for the EU, based in Brussels
On November 21, the European Parliament adopted its position on the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA), amending the initial proposal of the Commission to include “fusion energy technologies” among the net-zero technologies in their aims to boost decarbonization efforts in Europe. The Act sets a target for Europe to produce 40% of its annual deployment needs in net-zero technologies by 2030, to capture 25% of the global market value for these technologies, and to address challenges in scaling up these technologies’ manufacturing capacities.