Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Paper Series,
Research Institute of Industrial Economics

No 1483: The EU’s Competitive Advantage in the 'Clean-Energy Arms Race'

Petter Dahlström (), Hans Lööf (), Fredrik Sjöholm () and Andreas Stephan ()
Additional contact information
Petter Dahlström: Indek, Royal Institute of Technology, Postal: Stockholm, Sweden
Hans Lööf: Indek, Royal Institute of Technology, Postal: Stockholm, Sweden
Fredrik Sjöholm: Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Postal: Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Box 55665, SE-102 15 Stockholm, Sweden
Andreas Stephan: Linnaeus University, Postal: Växjö, Sweden

Abstract: The net-zero agreement on carbon emission from Paris 2015 gives a key role to fossil-free energy technologies with an expected multifold growth rate over the coming decades, when successively replacing oil, coal, and gas. In this paper, we delve into the EU’s competitive advantage in the evolving trade war in clean energy, investigate European strengths and weaknesses in innovation and production, and discuss the impact of the upcoming trade war on the global warming challenge. Our results show that the EU has a strong position in innovation capabilities in the strategic net-zero technologies. However, this is not matched by production capabilities: EU has only a few firms among the leading manufacturers in net-zero technologies.

Keywords: Energy geopolitics; Net-zero technologies; Patents; Innovation Energy geopolitics; Net-zero technologies; Patents; Innovation

JEL-codes: F02; O18; Q50; R10

Language: English

32 pages, December 15, 2023

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