The continent's clean transition is not short of capital. What it really needs is the permitting, infrastructure and regulatory certainty to deploy it at scale
Europe’s competitiveness will increasingly depend on its ability to scale clean investments to deploy real-world infrastructure and technologies, speakers concluded at a recent Euractiv event sponsored by Amazon.
The scale of the task is not in doubt. Lucy Cronin, vice president for EU Public Policy at Amazon, opened proceedings by invoking the €800 billion annual investment gap identified by Mario Draghi, the sum Europe must find if it is to restore its competitiveness while building a low-carbon economy.
Ms. Cronin highlighted that decarbonisation and competitiveness need not pull in opposite directions. Amazon’s sustained investments in renewable energy, transport electrification, charging infrastructure and sustainable packaging across Europe act as evidence that they can reinforce one another.
Referring to recent analysis by Frontier Economics that identified Amazon’s €17 billion capital investment in European companies pioneering low-carbon technologies, she outlined that private investment is helping to create jobs and generate economic value. Such benefits can cascade through communities, strengthen supply chains and industrial competitiveness, and create the low-carbon economy that Europe needs.
