This European Clean Tech Tracker aims to provide a clear, timely and policy-relevant overview of the main innovation, manufacturing and deployment trends characterising the main technologies underpinning Europe’s green transition.

A modest experiment shows that a specialised Brussels policy audience broadly agrees with Mario Draghi’s report on EU competitiveness. A generalised political consensus appears to exist on the European Union’s overarching goal of a competitive and green European economy. The question of how to achieve this, however, is hard to answer. Comprehensive policy packages reflecting many of the trade-offs needed to reach the goal have been put forward by two former Italian prime ministers in reports commissioned to steer the next EU policymaking cycle (2024-2029; Draghi, 2024; Letta, 2024) . But do their prescriptions align with other expert preferences and opinions?

Developing, demonstrating and deploying innovative cleantech plays a crucial role in mitigating climate change. Many of these technologies, such as heat pumps or wind power, are already on the market. Achieving the EU’s 2030 climate target largely depends on deploying these technologies at speed and greatly expanding the EU’s cleantech manufacturing base. However, simply manufacturing and deploying the cleantech that is on the market today will not suffice to reach climate neutrality. Doing so requires the development of innovative technologies that still require research and development, first-of-a-kind demonstration, and commercial scale-up – and at a much faster pace than was seen in the past for technologies such as solar PV or lithium-ion car batteries.

The world’s largest economies are turning towards green industrial policy to support their cleantech manufacturing to accelerate their decarbonisation, competitiveness, and economic resilience. In this cleantech race, the EU has several disadvantages, including higher costs of energy and labour, a less dynamic investment environment, and the impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act and Made in China 2025.

This Special Report focuses on the new Clean Industrial Deal, particularly in the context of the Polish presidency. It also looks at the effects it could have on European competitiveness and on energy prices across the continent.