Policy Lessons for Europe from the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act

The authors suggest that Europe can accelerate its energy transition by adopting four principles from U.S. policies like the Inflation Reduction Act: supporting a diverse technology mix, tailoring support to development stages, addressing non-cost barriers, and providing policy clarity. Specifically, the document recommends expanding support beyond wind and solar to include nuclear, carbon capture, and zero-carbon fuels, while reducing regulatory complexity and permitting delays that currently hinder project deployment.

• The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and related laws are based on four principles applicable to Europe: supporting multiple technologies to provide diverse options, tailoring policy to the specific needs of each technology's development stage, addressing non-cost barriers such as financing and construction, and providing clear, easy-to-access policy instruments.
• Europe needs to extend policy support beyond wind and solar to a wider array of zero-carbon technologies to balance the grid and speed up the transition, specifically mentioning next-generation nuclear energy, carbon capture and storage, zero-carbon fuels, longer-duration energy storage, and infrastructure like pipelines and batteries.
• Regulatory complexity and slow permitting processes are significant barriers in Europe; as of 2022, the EU had four times more wind capacity stuck in permitting than under construction, with projects in France and Italy taking an average of five years to come online.
• To improve deployment, the EU should implement upper limits on permitting review times for net-zero technologies, including small modular reactors (SMRs), and adopt proactive planning for cross-border infrastructure such as hydrogen and carbon dioxide transport.

APA

Beck, L., & Stoyanova, S. (2023). Policy Lessons for Europe from the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act. Clean Air Task Force. https://www.catf.us/2023/08/lessons-europe-from-us-inflation-reduction-act/

Chicago

Beck, Lee, and Sonia Stoyanova. Policy Lessons for Europe from the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act. Clean Air Task Force, 2023. https://www.catf.us/2023/08/lessons-europe-from-us-inflation-reduction-act/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Beck |first1=Lee |last2=Stoyanova |first2=Sonia |title=Policy Lessons for Europe from the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=9 August 2023 |url=https://www.catf.us/2023/08/lessons-europe-from-us-inflation-reduction-act/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{beck2023policy, author = {Beck, Lee and Stoyanova, Sonia}, title = {{Policy Lessons for Europe from the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2023}, month = aug, url = {https://www.catf.us/2023/08/lessons-europe-from-us-inflation-reduction-act/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }