Fortum’s feedback on the Electrification Action Plan

We welcome the European Commission’s Electrification Action Plan as a key step towards making clean electricity Europe’s next growth engine. Our contribution outlines how clear demand signals, predictable prices and efficient grids can unlock investment and accelerate industrial decarbonisation. We call for long-term policy visibility, fair electricity taxation and credit guarantees that extend affordable, fossil-free power to SMEs and mid-caps. Transparent flexibility markets, proactive grid expansion and fast-tracked training programmes are essential to deliver this transition.

Our recommendations in a nutshell:

• Create stable demand signals to unlock investment. Clear and ambitious electrification and climate targets—such as increasing the economy-wide electrification rate from 21.3% today to 32% by 2030, and achieving a 90% emissions reduction by 2040—are essential to give developers confidence that demand will be there when projects come online.
• Build lead markets for low-carbon industrial products. Public procurement, product standards and labelling should reward verified low-carbon materials—starting with steel, aluminium, chemicals and batteries—to anchor clean industry and power demand in Europe.
• Enable affordable, predictable and clean electricity for industry and consumers. Member States, with the support of the European Commission and the EIB, should provide credit guarantees to extend long-term price visibility to SMEs and mid-caps, helping them to commit to electrification with confidence.
• Make flexibility market-based and bankable. Transparent multi-year auctions for demand response, storage and fast-ramping capacity will create stable revenues for flexibility providers, turning system balancing into a market opportunity rather than a cost.
• Invest ahead of demand—in grids, skills and local value chains. Transmission and distribution operators should be allowed to expand proactively where credible industrial plans exist, while Member States should develop fast-track training programmes and cross-border certification for installers and technicians.