Global
logo Repsol

Technological neutrality

What it is and its relevance in the energy field

Technology neutrality in the energy field holds that regulation and public aid must be designed around the need to reduce emissions, promoting the development and deployment of all available technologies to achieve this, without prioritizing one over another. This aim is to ensure a level playing field for all tehcnologies, enabling every customer and sector to choose the option that best suits their needs.   

This approach, as outlined below, is particularly relevant at a time when Europe needs to make progress in reducing its carbon footprint without losing industrial capacity, employment or energy autonomy.

What is technological neutrality in mobility and energy?

According to various reports, transport accounts for around 30% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Spain. There is no doubt about the need to reduce emissions and, precisely because of this urgency, the concept of technological neutrality is more relevant than ever.   

Technological neutrality in mobility proposes a competition-based regulatory approach, to foster the development of all solutions capable of reducing these GHG emissions. 

Electrification would therefore be one possible avenue, but not the only one. An approach based on technological neutrality should establish mechanisms that put all technologies helping to achieve this goal on an equal footing. For example, by supporting the production and distribution of renewable fuels, or the innovation and development of technologies such as hydrogen, in the same way that vehicle fleet electrification or charging point deployment are encouraged.

In practice, this means that regulation and public policy should evaluate issues such as: 

  • The actual emission reduction of each technology. 
  • Technical feasibility depending on the sector, as renewing a passenger car is not the same as renewing a fleet of heavy-duty trucks.
  • Implementation costs.
  • Impact on competitiveness.
  • The scalability of solutions within reasonable timeframes. 


In addition, to accurately compare the different alternatives, their emissions must be measured comprehensively, taking into account the entire value chain and lifecycle. This means accounting not only for emissions generated during vehicle use, but also those associated with raw material extraction and processing, component manufacturing and assembly, distribution, maintenance and, ultimately, end-of-life scrapping and material treatment. This approach allows for a more accurate assessment of actual emission reductions for each technology, avoiding comparisons based solely on the use phase.

These variables are highly relevant from a competitiveness standpoint, as each sector faces unique circumstances. A light urban vehicle, a long-haul truck, an aircraft, a vessel, or an industrial facility all have different needs. 

In transport, for example, electrification plays a clear role in many segments. However, it does not meet all the system's needs on its own.

Indeed, the European Commission itself is starting to partially recognize this technological diversity. It does so, for instance, in the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), where it sets specific targets for transport that are not limited to a single technological pathway.

Emission reduction should not rely on a single technology, but on the proven capacity of different solutions to contribute to that target

By 2030, Member States must choose between achieving a 29% share of renewable energy in transport or reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of fuels used by 14.5%, in addition to sub-targets for advanced fuels and renewable hydrogen. 

Impact of technological neutrality on employment, competitiveness, and autonomy

A regulatory framework aligned with technological neutrality directly impacts industry, employment, investment, and strategic autonomy.

Employment and industrial investment

When the regulatory framework places multiple viable solutions for reducing CO2 emissions at the same level, the opportunities for industrial investment expand. This enables the transformation of existing assets, drives new business activity, and preserves value chains across manufacturing, logistics, engineering, and industrial operations.  

On On the other hand, focusing the entire transition on a single solution poses a clear risk: excluding industrial capabilites and shifting part of value creation outside Europe.

Business competitiveness

The energy transition takes place within real companies, with profit margins and profitability, employment and investment decisions that shape all of these variables.  

If a company can reduce emissions by leveraging multiple decarbonization pathways, it will have greater flexibility to do so in an orderly and efficient manner.

This is particularly relevant for heavy transport, logistics, industry, aviation, or the maritime sector. Across all these sectors, the pace of transformation depends not only on climate ambition, but also on technology availability, infrastructure and total implementation costs.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has highlighted that electrifying heavy transport will progress more slowly than light-duty vehicles due, among other factors, to higher cost and infrastructure barriers.

Strategic autonomy and security of supply

Technological neutrality also has a geopolitical dimension. Europe needs to reduce critical dependencies and strengthen its capacity to produce energy, fuels, materials and technology within its own industrial base.  

In this context, the European agenda has placed growing emphasis on the link between energy transition and industrial competitiveness, focusing on the need to develop domestic capabilities in key technologies and strategic value chains.  

The conclusion is clear: the energy transition cannot be decoupled from European competitiveness or strategic autonomy.

Limitations of an approach that strays from technological neutrality

When the transition is framed through an overly narrow lens, significant limitations appear. Not only in innovation, but also in climate effectiveness and deployment capacity.

Challenges in technological development

One of the clearest impacts of a non-neutral approach is that some solutions lose visibility, investment or regulatory recognition, even when they can deliver significant emission reductions.  

This is the case for renewable fuels. It is about recognizing that they are part of the portfolio of available mobility solutions, allowing for rapid action in certain segments by leveraging existing vehicles, engines and infrastructures. 

European evidence already points in this direction. The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) concludes in its Advanced Biofuels in the European Union – 2025 Status Report that these fuels will play a key role in reducing emissions from European transport, noting that their EU consumption quadrupled between 2019 and 2023. 

Why electrification is not enough across all sectors

Electrification cannot proceed at the same pace across all sectors.   

In aviation and maritime transport, complementary solutions are required because direct electrification does not currently offer a scalable answer for most of their operation.  

The European Commission highlights that aviation is one of the fastest-growing sources of emissions, requiring a combination of measures to achieve progress in reducing them.

In the maritime sector, the FuelEU Maritime framework sets out a progressive reduction pathway for the GHG intensity of fuels used, precisely because addressing this technological challenge requires different levers.  

Also, the progress in heavy road transport is uneven. For long-haul routes, infrastructure, range, and operational downtime remain critical variables, as indicated by the International Energy Agency's own analysis. Therefore, the broader the portfolio of available solutions, the greater the capacity to reduce emissions without hindering economic activity.

Challenges in achieving climate targets without technological neutrality

There is a key point that should not be overlooked: if a major part of the economy cannot transform at the expected pace relying on a single technology, restricting alternative solutions risks slowing down overall progress. 

Europe needs to cut emissions quickly. This requires action across the existing fleet, on current industrial uses, and on sectors that are difficult to electrify.

Restricting available solutions does not speed up the transition: rather, it can slow down the emission reduction where action is needed most

In the automotive sector, the European debate surrounding emission targets and the post-2035 framework highlights precisely this tension between climate ambition, industrial viability, and technological options.

How to advance the energy transition based on technological neutrality

In order to move forward based on a genuinely neutral framework, several shift in approach are required.

  • Results-based regulation: prioritize actual emission reductions rather than specific technologies.
  • Recognizing sectoral diversity: not all sectors can progress at the same pace.
  • Accelerating industrial innovation: stable frameworks are needed to test and scale different solutions.
  • Leveraging existing infrastructure and capabilities: the transition will be faster if it repurposes part of the existing industrial and logistical base.  
  • Integrating climate, industry and strategic autonomy: emissions must be reduced without constraining investment or jobs, while reducing external dependencies.

Innovation based on technological neutrality in Repsol projects

Technological neutrality is not simply a framework for structuring the debate. It is also a driver of innovation.  

When space for different solutions opens up, more industrial projects, technological collaboration and capacity to reduce emissions emerge in the short term.

Transformation in our industrial complexes

An example of this process is the transformation of our industrial complexes, adapting them to process new raw materials and generating new energy solutions by investment in innovation.  

That change is not just about incorporating different technologies. It consists of reorienting existing industrial capacities so that they can continue to generate activity, employment and investment in a context of emission reductionnes.  

That transformation is already resulting into concrete progress. The first milestone in this regard came with the first large-scale production plant for renewable fuels, at the Cartagena industrial complex, with a capacity to produce 250,000 metric tons per year from 300,000 metric tons of organic waste, such as used cooking oil.  

In Tarragona we have driven the industrial-scale production of 100% renewable gasoline. A product compatible with gasoline vehicles that reduces net CO2 emissions by more than 70% compared to conventional gasoline.   

In addition to both projects, there is a new plant for large-scale renewable fuel production, in this case in the Puertollano industrial complex, which will be operational this year, with a production capacity of about 200,000 metric tons of 100% renewable fuels for maritime and road transport.   

Projects and vision that reach the end consumer. To this end, we have already deployed a significant network of renewable fuels in the Iberian Peninsula: more than 1,600 service stations in Spain and Portugal supply 100% renewable Nexa Diesel, and 100% renewable Nexa 95 Gasoline is now available at 30 service stations. 

This is where technological neutrality acquires practical value. It allows us to transform without wasting our own industrial capacity and, at the same time, put into the hands of individuals and companies solutions that can already be used, with existing vehicles and infrastructure.

An ultra-efficient hybrid engine using 100% renewable gasoline

Another recent example of this logic is the project developed jointly with Horse Powertrain, through Horse Technologies, to create an ultra-efficient hybrid engine capable of running on 100% renewable gasoline sources. 

In this project we have achieved:  

  • 44.2% thermal efficiency. 
  • 40% lower fuel consumption compared to an equivalent conventional vehicle.
  • A consumption below 3.3 L/100 km (WLTP). 
  • An estimated annual savings of 1.77 metric tons of CO2 in a medium-sized vehicle by combining efficiency and gasoline from 100% renewable sources.

Beyond the technical data, what matters is what this project demonstrates: innovation can move forward quickly when the solution space is not constrained. It also highlights something important for Europe. With a significant part of the vehicle fleet still powered by combustion engines, improving efficiency and reducing emissions through already deployed technologies can offer immediate results, without requiring the complete and immediate replacement of the fleet. That kind of innovation doesn't necessarily compete with other solutions. It complements them.   

The energy transition requires ambition, focus, and criteria. Technological neutrality offers a more useful approach: moving forward with an open, results-based logic adapted to the reality of each sector.

Europe needs to reduce emissions. But it also needs to do so without sacrificing its industrial base, its autonomy and its capacity for innovation.