Against a backdrop of climate urgency and geopolitical and trade tensions, France and Europe need to reconcile decarbonization, industrial sovereignty and competitiveness.
How can this equation be solved when Europe is caught in a vice between the United States and China, two offensive blocs that are battling it out in a veritable clash of the titans?
Faced with this titanic challenge, does Europe have what it takes to establish itself as a decarbonized industrial power?
The USA and China benefit from cheaper energy, creating a major competitive disadvantage for European industry. In this economic confrontation, «competitive, decarbonized industrial sovereignty» is a strategic imperative, despite a constrained budgetary context in which many European states have excessive levels of debt.
Two opposing visions: «Drill, baby, drill» versus «Plug, baby, plug». We are convinced that the attractiveness and competitiveness of industry depend on its decarbonization, and that we must therefore go beyond the short-term opposition between industry and ecological transition.
Contrary to certain preconceived ideas, there is a third way between the dead ends of the industrial desert and the environmental desert, if Europe succeeds in launching industrial champions and developing the industrial services market as a complementary growth driver.
What you'll discover in this analysis:
Why decarbonization reinforces the need for sovereignty
How the electrification of the economy (Fit for 55) is creating new dependencies on critical materials (rare earths, lithium, copper) and why controlling the cost of electricity is becoming a key factor in competitiveness.
Critical dependencies: the new balance of power
China controls 90% of Europe's rare earth supply and over 80% of the photovoltaic value chain. How can Europe regain control of its strategic value chains?
The levers of Europe's industrial awakening
There can be no low-carbon industry without an ambitious industrial policy. The challenge lies less in the volume of financial resources to be invested than in their strategic allocation and the development of human capital.
Download our full analysis and discover concrete strategies for building a competitive, low-carbon European industrial sovereignty.
