REMINDER: Chatham House rules applicable for the complete session.
9:30 | WELCOME by Witold Strzelecki, Managing Director of BSP |
9:40 | WELCOME by Hans Grünfeld, President of IFIEC Europe |
9:45 | KEYNOTE speaker: Céline Gauer, EC-DG, DG ENER How can the Commission, and DG ENER in particular, ensure competitive energy and climate systems for Energy Intensive Industries (EII) and remove barriers for the acceleration of the industrial transition in Europe? |
10:15 | Q&A session |
10:30 | KEYNOTE: Henryk Kaliś, Polish Forum of Energy and Gas consumers (FOEEIG) |
11:00 | SESSION I: Electricity costs and competitiveness How can we restore competitiveness of EII via minimisation of all electricity costs components: commodity, infrastructure, taxes and surcharges? What are the first results of the recently adopted Grids Package in contribution towards creating liquid markets for electricity? What are the effective solutions, both at EU and Member States levels, to avoid increasing grid costs affecting the competitive position of EII? |
12:00 | Marco Mensink, Director General, CEFIC Can the EII effectively and positively contribute to the future of industry in Europe, providing jobs, welfare and strategic autonomy? |
12:30 | Lunch & networking |
13:45 | SESSION II: Gas Market functioning & Security of Supply: How can gas markets provide competitively priced products for EII? How can Security of Supply of natural gas be strengthened without imposing unbearable costs for EII? What needs to be done to develop markets for decarbonised hydrogen and what role should low-carbon hydrogen play? |
14:30 | SESSION III: Development of the Hydrogen market in Europe |
15:00 | KEYNOTE speaker: Kurt Vandenberghe, EC-DG CLIMA Accelerating the Clean Transition for Industry: which policy initiatives are required to keep the transition on track while restoring competitiveness? |
15:30 | Q&A session |
15:45 | SESSION IV: European Industry Transition: What needs to be done to accelerate the industry transition in Europe and stop de-industrialisation? How can the revised EU ETS strengthen the industry in Europe and its transition and avoid carbon leakage? What is the role of CC(U)S and what needs to be done to make it an effective instrument of industrial decarbonisation? |
16:45 | Wrap-up and way forward by Hans Grünfeld, President of IFIEC Europe |
17:00 | Reception & networking. |
Gathering in Berlin, IFIEC Europe members took stock of a busy year of advocacy and energy and climate policy engagement while looking ahead to the challenges and opportunities of Europe’s energy transition. Discussions covered key developments in electricity, gas, climate and efficiency, as well as the organisation’s advocacy and communication activities for the following months.
A major milestone of the meeting was the approval of IFIEC Europe’s 2027 Budget and Membership Fees, providing a strong foundation for the organisation’s future work on behalf of industrial energy consumers. Members also endorsed the 2025 accounts, welcomed a new Board member, and confirmed key governance and working group appointments.
For more information, please contact Isabelle Chaput, Secretary General.
Brussels, 4 December 2025 — At the Annual Forum on Securing Competitive Energy for Industry, industry leaders and policymakers warned that Europe must act urgently to secure affordable, reliable and clean energy to protect industrial competitiveness and support the green transition. Discussions focused on high energy prices, security of supply, realistic climate targets, and the need for a stable regulatory framework to enable investment.
Closing the event, Hans Grünfeld, President of IFIEC Europe, stressed the need for stronger cooperation with EU institutions, stating: “Europe has the capacity to lead the clean industrial transformation, but only if we secure competitive energy prices and remove the barriers slowing progress.”
On November 28, 2024, the annual IFIEC Europe Energy Forum will take place in Brussels. The theme of the event is: “Securing competitive, low-carbon energy for industry: short and long-term perspectives”.
In view of the current challenges in energy supply and the ambitious climate targets, high-caliber speakers from industry and politics will discuss solutions to ensure the competitiveness of European industry. Take the opportunity to exchange ideas with leading experts and decision-makers from all over Europe. Let's find sustainable and viable solutions together!
At its Energy Forum 2024, IFIEC Europe called for the swift development and concrete implementation of a new set of measures in the field of energy in support to the European industry. This policy should not only contribute to safeguard the EU’s industry’s global competitiveness, which is sharply challenged, but also create a framework for piloting industrial companies through the energy transition towards a climate-neutral economy by 2050.
15 high-caliber speakers from industry and politics constructively discussed solutions to secure competitive low carbon energy for industry in a short-term and long-term perspective. A successful event that attracted more than 75 participants, an important step to continue intensive dialogues and search for creative & concrete sustainable solutions together!
During the last IFIEC’s GA of December 2023, our experts had the opportunity to discuss informally the grid infrastructure challenges faced by energy-intensive industries in Europe with 2 important guest speakers: Sonya Twohig, secretary General of ENTSO-E (electricity) and Piotr Kuz, Director General of ENTSOG (gas).
The discussion covered several issues such as grid reliability and stability, grid capacity and congestion, but also integration of renewables, energy storage, smart grid technologies as well as interconnection and cross-border cooperation, investment and funding …
This was a rich discussion that will be pursued in the near future. Addressing these grid infrastructure challenges requires, indeed, collaboration between all actors : energy providers, regulators, policymakers and, obviously, industrial stakeholders to create a resilient and adaptive energy grid that meets the evolving needs of energy-intensive industries in Europe.
European energy intensive industries are facing unprecedented challenges: Russian invasion of Ukraine, gas shortage, exceptionally high gas and electricity prices, additional intermittent renewables, increased role of grid operators, future of nuclear plants, ambitious - but often unilateral - climate policies... All those energy and climate related challenges have a direct influence on the environmental performance and socio-economic situation of the EU industry. They also often create competition distortions within Europe and competitive disadvantages compared to their competitors in the rest of the world: North and South America, Middle East, Australia, … This structural handicap seriously jeopardizes industrial activities and further development in Europe. The EU Commission recently proposed a revised Temporary Crisis Framework and Repower EU, as well as several new industrial Acts and an electricity market reform. Several Member States successfully introduced national emergency measures to protect their critical industrial sectors during the crisis.
During the last General assembly mid June 2023, experts from EU industry discussed with several keynote speakers from the EU Commission, DG CLIMA, ACER and Eurogas to actively contribute to effective solutions for maintaining competitive industrial sectors in Europe in a sustainable manner.
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