Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

On 18 October 2024 the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan approved Government Resolution No. 868 adopting the Concept of Investment Policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2029. The Concept sets a binding strategic-document target to attract at least US$150 billion in foreign direct investment over 2024-2029 and to raise fixed-capital investment from approximately 15.1% of GDP (2023) toward 23-25.1% of GDP by 2029. Its principal new instruments are (i) Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK / BDK) concessional lending at 6% interest for a 10-year tenor for the engineering infrastructure of new industrial projects, (ii) regional investment headquarters (one per oblast) modelled on the existing national Investment Headquarters under the Prime Minister, (iii) a national digital investment platform (invest.gov.kz) for streamlined permitting and investor aftercare, (iv) a unified register of investor issues and complaints administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the designated FDI-attraction owner, and (v) counter-obligations (localisation, employment, technology transfer) imposed on recipients of state preferences. The Concept is the principal implementing instrument under the 2021 Law on Industrial Policy (Law No. 86-VII ZRK) on the investment-attraction side and is designed to operate alongside the 2023 REE Comprehensive Plan and the 2025 Subsoil Code amendments on the minerals-extraction side.

Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy published the "Bundesförderung Industrie und Klimaschutz" (BIK) funding guideline on 23 August 2024 and opened the first funding call on 30 August 2024, making roughly EUR 3.3 billion available through 2030 — financed from the Klima- und Transformationsfonds (KTF) — to decarbonise industrial SMEs and large manufacturers. Module 1 funds decarbonisation investment and R&D projects up to EUR 200 million per project; Module 2 funds carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCU/CCS) investment (up to EUR 30 million) and research (up to EUR 35 million) projects. A second funding call opened in January 2026, and individual awards under the programme — including a EUR 140 million grant to Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann GmbH for its EAF2HKM electric-arc-furnace steel-decarbonisation project — have since been logged as state aid by Global Trade Alert.

Decree 0977, signed 2 August 2024 by the Petro administration, regulates Article 231 of the National Development Plan (Law 2294/2023) by adding Chapter 12 to Title V, Part 2, Book 2 of Decreto 1073 de 2015, the consolidated mining-and-energy regulation. The decree creates a new state-managed territorial category — Distritos Mineros Especiales para la Diversificación Productiva — split into two tracks: "Distritos Mineros para la Vida y la Paz" (zones of high informal-mining presence, formalisation focus) and "Distritos Mineros para la Transición Energética Justa" (decarbonisation and productive-reconversion focus, principally coal phase-out zones). The decree restructures where, how, and under what licensing terms large-scale mining is permitted in Colombia, the world's #1 thermal coal exporter to Europe and a major LatAm producer of gold, copper and nickel.

Lei 14.902/2024, sanctioned 27 June 2024 (DOU 28 June 2024), institutes the Programa Mobilidade Verde e Inovação (Programa Mover), Brazil's successor framework to Rota 2030 for the automotive ecosystem (passenger cars, trucks, buses, auto parts). The law converts Provisional Measure 1.205/2023 into permanent statute and authorises approximately R$19.3 billion (~USD 4.8 billion) in financial credits for R&D and decarbonisation projects through 2028, alongside an IPI (Industrialised Products Tax) bonus-malus regime tied to lifecycle CO2 emissions, recyclability and energy-efficiency thresholds. Vehicles meeting the strictest "Carro Sustentável" criteria (≤83 gCO2/km, ≥80% recyclability) qualify for zero-IPI treatment, while non-compliant vehicles face higher tax rates. The programme is regulated by Decreto 12.435/2025 (15 April 2025), with mandatory emissions-labelling and commercialisation requirements taking effect from 1 June 2025. The law also permits a 2% reduced import tariff rate for qualifying vehicles where the importer commits R&D spend equivalent to 2% of customs value.

Released 9 May 2024 by the Minister for Resources Madeleine King through the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, the Future Gas Strategy is Australia's first national-level gas-policy framework, explicitly committing gas to a continuing supply role "through to 2050 and beyond" in support of the net-zero transition. The Strategy is built on six guiding principles -- gas must remain affordable for Australian users during transition, reliable supply requires new sources, emissions from production and use must be reduced, gas exports remain critical to global decarbonisation pathways, competitive gas markets are essential, and collaboration is needed to deliver these objectives -- and is paired with a separate Future Gas Strategy Analytical Report. It sets the Commonwealth policy posture for all subsequent LNG-export approval decisions (Northwest Shelf, Beetaloo, Scarborough), east-coast domestic-supply policy (including the AEMO gas-statement-of- opportunities forecast and any future domestic-reservation intervention), and Australia's international posture on long-term LNG offtake renewals with Japan, Korea and Taiwan.