Outlook 2024: Competing priorities for green industrial policy
Three overarching policy goals can be seen to achieve decarbonisation
International governments are adopting more interventionist economic policies, particularly concerning the energy transition and associated clean technologies. Since the early 2000s, industrial policy has been a key feature of the drive for decarbonisation, but recently the priorities have shifted. While earlier efforts were concerned with reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a newfound enthusiasm focuses on reducing dependence on global value chains, which are increasingly perceived as threatening. Growing acceptance of the inevitability of energy transition also sees countries keen to gain domestic market share of rapidly growing green industries. With the Inflation Reduction Act, the US has
Also in this section
14 January 2026
Continent’s governments must seize the green hydrogen opportunity by refining policies and ramping up the development of supply chains and infrastructure
6 January 2026
Shifts in government policy and rising power demand will shape the clean hydrogen sector as it attempts to gain momentum following a sluggish performance in 2025
23 December 2025
Government backing and inflow of private capital point to breakthrough year for rising star of the country’s clean energy sector
19 December 2025
The hydrogen industry faces an important choice: coordinated co-evolution or patched-together piecemeal development. The way forward is integrated co-evolution, and freight corridors are a good example






