Competitiveness and Opportunities for European Clean Tech

Overview

Though Europeans have pioneered many green technologies, Europe is currently losing some competitiveness in the production of those technologies. This slowdown affects different countries and regions differently. Boosting competitiveness at the aggregate level should therefore involve approaches that take into account diverse regional industrial capabilities.

In this paper, we evaluate Europe’s positioning in green technologies and identify opportunities for Europe to translate its industrial capabilities into leadership of green value chains. We use two datasets – the Greenplexity dataset from the Harvard Growth Lab, and the European Clean Tech Tracker from Bruegel (Growth Lab, 2025; Bruegel Dataset, 2025) – to explore trends at national and regional levels.

We identify the sectors and regions in which Europe can strengthen its position, build competitiveness in new industries and generate economic growth through the energy transition. We conclude with policy priorities for guiding clean-technology investments, arguing that policymakers should use the feasibility and attractiveness of industrial clusters to target investment support at the regional level.

This paper is also published as a Bruegel Working Paper. Issue number 28/2026, available at https://doi.org/10.64153/ZYKB9779.

Keywords

competitiveness, trade policy, decarbonization, industrial policy, investment