The URV professor is one of seven members of the scientific group that will analyse the impact of European regulation on the clean technology industry

Laureano Jiménez, professor at the URV’s Department of Chemical Engineering, has been selected as one of the seven members of the Net-Zero Regulatory Burden Scientific Advisory Group. This group will provide scientific advice to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the member states of the European Union.

Its mission is to provide scientific evidence to help design effective public policies and appropriate regulation for the manufacturing of technologies aimed at decarbonisation within the European Union. The group’s work will also be related to two major European strategic challenges: strengthening energy security and preserving industrial competitiveness during the transition to a climate-neutral economy.

The creation of this advisory group is part of the Net Zero Industry Act, a European regulation which aims for the EU’s manufacturing capacity for clean technologies to cover at least 40% of the bloc’s annual needs by 2030. With this initiative, Europe aims to strengthen its industrial capacity and reduce its reliance on imported technologies and components.

Laureano Jiménez was selected through a public call, along with six other scientists with a proven track record from different countries. His term will last for four years, with the possibility of a one-year extension.

The group held its first meeting on 23 September in Brussels, during which it set out its lines of work to analyse the impact of European legislation on industries linked to net-zero technologies. The focus was on public procurement, the impact on SMEs, zero-emission technologies and permit management.

Laureano’s responsibilities include assessing the effects of regulation on industrial competitiveness, sustainability and the energy transition. The group will also have to identify unnecessary regulatory burdens and formulate recommendations to simplify them, while maintaining effective, proportionate and science-based public policies.

Laureano Jiménez is a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the URV. Throughout his career, he has served as a consultant to various national and international research agencies. From 2025 to 2026, he served as a scientific advisor to the Minister and the Secretary of State for Industry at the Spanish Ministry of Industry and Tourism.

His scientific work lies at the intersection of process engineering and environmental engineering, with an emphasis on developing decision-support tools for complex problems, such as the energy transition, in which renewable sources that are characterised by intermittent and variable production need to be integrated into the continuous energy needs of residential buildings.

Jiménez’s appointment to this European advisory group strengthens the international standing of his career and places the knowledge generated at the URV in a strategic position for the future of European industrial, energy and climate policy.