Clean Energy

The EU is committed to becoming climate neutral by 2050 and set to become  a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy.  At the same time, today’s energy production account for more than 75% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions, which requires a major transformation of the EU energy systems. For this reason, innovative and affordable clean energy technologies are at the centre of this effort  and will be a major stepping stone in realising the energy and climate objectives of the European Green Deal.

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Clean energy competitiveness

Competitiveness in the clean energy sector entails the capacity to produce and use affordable, reliable and accessible clean energy through clean energy technologies, and compete in energy technology markets, with the overall aim of bringing benefits to the EU economy and people. A competitive clean energy industry is therefore key in order to supply the technologies needed to transition.

The competitiveness level of a specific industry is measured through a broad set of indicators, including:
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• the technology’s status, like installed capacity, or levelised cost of energy
• value chain, as size of the market per value chain component with the value added
• the industry's position through trade balance, or as a top global player

Progress reports

From 2020, the European Commission  conducts a yearly progress report  on clean energy technologies and the competitiveness of the EU clean energy industry.

The report takes stock on whether their development is on track to deliver the green transition and the EU’s long-term climate goals.

​The first progress report was published as annex to the 2020 State of the energy union report, and is particularly crucial for the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, since improved competitiveness has the potential to mitigate the short- and medium-term economic and social impact of the crisis.

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