Blueprint conference for clean, just and competitive European economies and societies

29 Jan 2026

President Von Der Leyen, Vice President Teresa Ribera , Director General Linsey McCallum and other dignitaries gathered together in Brussels to outline a clean, just and competitive vision for sustainable growth of the European economy.

Europe is one of the leaders when it comes to research on cutting edge technologies however transformation of that research into a marketable product doesn't always happen in the EU as most EU organisations prefer to set up business in the USA due to favorable policies and tolerance for failure. It's a problem because the EU is not able to profit from its own research investment.

Since the establishment of the European single market in 1993, 27 EU nations have enjoyed free movement of goods,services and people. Despite this challenges remain in the form of slow bureaucratic processes and complex legislations. To make Europe competitive it will be essential to simplify the laws.

Legal costs have become so high that many upstarts can't bear the fees of courts and lawyers. Policy makers could promote alternate dispute resolution mechanisms (arbitration, conciliation and mediation) to help give confidence to businesses.

The EU has enforced its Antitrust laws quite resolutely and has famously fined big tech companies billions of dollars for violating its policies, thus preventing emergence of monopolies ensuring that the EU remains a free and competitive marketplace. However despite this very few new EU startups have been successful. This is a cause of concern and despite the best intentions of policy makers it will lead to a slowdown in the long run.

Industries today face additional pressure of taking into account their CO2 footprint and whether or not they use sustainable sources of energy. In the short term this does create a bottleneck because energy being an infrastructure project requires investment from the government but if planned well it could lead to industrialisation.

On the same day as the blueprint conference Hydrogen Europe organised its own event outlining the European Commission's Sustainable Transport Investment Plan (STIP) and its implications for decarbonizing the aviation and shipping sectors, focusing on green fuels and hydrogen. This is a sizable investment that is sure to boost the sustainable fuel industry but again it depends upon how effectively the EU is able to provide sustainable energy to its green fuel manufacturers.

The EU emits ~3.5 Billion tonnes of CO2 annually. Developing nations have called for aid from the union to help them transition to a green economy. The EU has resisted these demands and insisted for a ‘shared responsibility’. However for true just development reconciliation for past actions needs to take place. EU industry was built on colonisation and slave trade from Africa. Despite several appeals for reparations none have been made so far.

The Mattei plan to deepen economic, energy, infrastructure, and development cooperation with African countries was launched in 2022 but the progress has been slow. If the implementation continues to be delayed then the EU risks losing the opportunity to gain a foothold in Africa to other nations like the USA that are looking to increase engagement.

It is important to note however that EUs partnership with Africa in clean energy did intensify with the launch of Salone Off-Grid Renewable Energy Acceleration (SOGREA) in partnership with EU and Denmark govt underlining EUs commitment to clean energy transition.

Policy wise these are great decisions however renewable energy transition is not without its challenges. Whether it's material requirements or the sheer scale of infrastructure that needs to be built it will take an unprecedented coordination and superhuman effort to pull it off.

However institutions that are responsible for driving change are not always consistent. VP Teresa Ribera was a fierce opponent of Nuclear to see through this transition to green energy . Policy decisions taken together with the world bank and IMF caused the funding to dry up for new nuclear plants. Presently however their stance has reversed. How far could we have been on the decarbonisation path had such foresightedness been shown earlier?

Today solar panels and wind turbines have emerged as the most effective tools for driving clean energy change. But it's important to keep innovating in this space and discover new ways to harness,store and use energy. Devices that are versatile and can perform more than one type of task could have a far greater impact than appliances that are built for single specific use.

Do you care about international relations? Would you like to be a part of a non profit that seeks to foster international collaboration? Partner with us & use your skills in Science/Engineering/Research/Team Building/Consulting/Administration/Law/PR/Comms/Business to shape the future. Let's do this.

ABOUT bhū

bhū is a self funded non profit organisation dedicated to advancement of science and promotion of international relations.

We aim to promote international harmony through creation of specific councils and bodies for regulating and overseeing international issues and accelerate developments in nanotechnology, material science ,electrostatics, fluids, plasma science,thermodynamics and advanced manufacturing.

Let us work together

https://akshatjiwannotes.blogspot.com/p/bhu.html

Akshat Jiwan Sharma

Materials science/International relations/Partnerships

Mobile/whatsapp:+919654119771

email:getellobed@gmail.com

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Akshat Jiwan Sharma

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