Clean Technologies and Net-Zero Industrial Manufacturing
Europe’s industrial base for the clean-technology transition
The European clean-technology question is no longer only whether the Union can deploy enough wind turbines, solar panels, electrolysers, heat pumps, batteries, grid equipment and carbon-management systems to meet its decarbonisation objectives. The more strategic issue is whether Europe can manufacture enough of the technologies, components, materials, power electronics and industrial systems required for that transition without replacing fossil-fuel dependence with a new dependence on imported clean-tech supply chains. Deployment can accelerate while industrial value migrates elsewhere. For Europe, this makes clean-tech manufacturing a question of competitiveness, capital formation, critical infrastructure resilience and strategic autonomy.
The report analyses this problem through four integrated sections. It first frames clean technologies as strategic manufacturing sectors rather than ESG categories. It then examines the European legal, regulatory and financial architecture, including the Clean Industrial Deal, the Net-Zero Industry Act, the Innovation Fund, the European Hydrogen Bank and related instruments. The third section assesses the industrial position of Europe across wind, solar, electrolysers, heat pumps, grids, batteries, CCS, industrial efficiency and circular technologies. The final section maps the relevant company landscape, evaluates investability and supply-chain exposure, and reaches a technology-by-technology judgement on Europe’s strategic autonomy.