Sweden’s deputy prime minister Ebba Busch has called on the European Union to amend its clean-tech funding rules to help bankrupt battery cell maker Northvolt secure a new owner.
Speaking after a meeting with European Commission industry chief Stephane Sejourne in Brussels, Busch said the current funding criteria, which favor highly innovative projects over existing technologies, risk sidelining established companies like Northvolt—one of Sweden’s largest corporate failures and a key player in Europe’s efforts to build a competitive battery manufacturing industry against China.
“The EU must move from words to action and decide on that money this spring,” Busch said, stressing that such support is “crucial” for Northvolt to survive this challenging insolvency period. She warned that if the Commission continues to support only newcomers within the battery sector, the clean industrial deal on European soil could fall into China’s hands, as Europe remains heavily reliant on imported green technologies.
Northvolt, once seen as Europe’s best hope to rival Chinese battery makers, recently filed for bankruptcy in Sweden, upending the region’s ambitions for domestic battery production. Busch emphasized that revising the funding rules to include existing battery makers could help attract a new owner for Northvolt, providing a lifeline for the company and preserving Europe’s competitive edge in the clean-tech arena.
The European Commission, which last month announced a commitment of €6 billion for clean industries through the EU Innovation Fund, has yet to comment on whether its funding criteria might be expanded. The fund is currently earmarked for projects deemed highly innovative, leaving established companies like Northvolt ineligible despite their critical role in the regional supply chain.
As the debate over EU funding continues, industry analysts say that broadening access to these funds could be pivotal in sustaining Europe’s burgeoning clean technology sector and reducing dependency on imports from China.
Escalating gang violence in Haiti has displaced 680,000 children, nearly twice as many as last year, as armed groups seize more territory and basic se...
A 29-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a devastating wildfire that killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes in Los Angeles ea...
More than 200 health facilities in war-hit eastern Congo have run out of medicines due to widespread looting and supply chain disruptions during fight...
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected as “incorrect” the report by a Kuwaiti newspaper on recent contacts between Tehran and Washington ...
The 7th Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan has concluded in Russia with participants issuing a joint statement heavily hinting at a joint oppo...
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University, Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne, and Omar Yaghi of the University of California.
Security has tightened in Copenhagen ahead of European summits this week with France, Germany and Sweden sending extra military personnel and anti-drone systems to Denmark to boost security following drone incursions that forced the temporary closure of several Danish airports.
Sweden will support Denmark with military anti-drone capabilities in connection with summits in Copenhagen this week, after drone sightings last week forced Denmark to shut several airports, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Monday.
Two people were injured in a shooting near a mosque in the Swedish city of Örebro on Friday, police said.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he may travel to the Middle East this weekend as talks continue on a potential deal to end the war in Gaza.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tajikistan on Wednesday for a series of meetings with leaders of former Soviet republics focused on regional cooperation and Moscow’s influence in Central Asia.
Escalating gang violence in Haiti has displaced 680,000 children, nearly twice as many as last year, as armed groups seize more territory and basic services collapse, UNICEF warned on Wednesday.
A 29-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a devastating wildfire that killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes in Los Angeles earlier this year.
The 7th Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan has concluded in Russia with participants issuing a joint statement heavily hinting at a joint opposition to any foreign military infrastructure in Afghanistan.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment