Decarbonisation : what strategy for a competitive industry?
Overview
The climate is a global good whose preservation faces a problem of collective action. The Paris Agreement is at best only part of the answer to this problem because the commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are uncoordinated and non-binding. Plurilateral action, by a club of countries sharing a common climate ambition and protecting themselves from the rest of the world, is not an option for obvious geopolitical reasons.
That leaves unilateral action. This is the solution adopted by the European Union with its Green Pact, and by the United States with the climate part of the Inflation Reduction Act. But then we have to protect ourselves from losses in competitiveness. Faced with this observation, we must ask ourselves the question of the best strategy for reconciling energy transition and competitive industry: should we use market instruments as a priority, or should we favour the “visible hand” of the State?