Building Resilience Through Clean Technology Innovation in Central and Eastern Europe

The document examines the energy transition in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), highlighting the region's shift away from Russian energy dependence toward a diversified 'all-of-the-above' approach. It identifies significant potential for the region to lead in clean tech manufacturing and innovation, particularly in batteries, small modular reactors (SMRs), and carbon capture, while leveraging the EU's Just Transition Fund to reskill coal workers and build innovation hubs.

• Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) historically faced extreme dependence on Russian gas, with 2020 figures showing Latvia at 92%, Bulgaria at 79%, Slovakia at 68%, Hungary at 61%, Slovenia at 60%, Czechia at 55%, and Poland at 50%.
• The region is increasingly adopting 'technology optionality' to ensure energy security, with specific momentum in Small Modular Reactors (SMR), Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), and low-carbon hydrogen. Examples include Romania's Nuclearelectrica partnering with NuScale Power, and Poland's Synthos Green Energy partnering with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy for BWRX-300 SMRs.
• Poland has emerged as a global leader in lithium-ion battery production, becoming the world's second largest producer with a capacity of 73 GWh in 2022 and exports totaling € 8.24 billion in 2022, driven by investments from LG Energy Solutions, SK Nexilis, and Mercedes Benz.
• The region possesses a substantial coal workforce that must be reskilled for the clean tech sector to avoid economic instability; direct coal employment figures include 88,000 in Poland, 43,000 in Bulgaria, and 25,000 in Czechia.
• Poland, Romania, and Czechia are the three largest beneficiaries of the EU's Just Transition Fund (JTF), providing a financial opportunity to convert transition regions into 'clean innovation hubs' for research and entrepreneurship.
• Renewable energy deployment is accelerating through policy changes, such as Romania's contracts for difference (CfD) scheme aiming for 10GW total capacity by 2030, and Poland's shift from the '10H rule' to a '700m rule' for onshore wind turbines.

APA

Clean Air Task Force (n.d.). Building Resilience Through Clean Technology Innovation in Central and Eastern Europe. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/04174721/cee-tech-innovation.pdf

Chicago

Clean Air Task Force. Building Resilience Through Clean Technology Innovation in Central and Eastern Europe. n.d. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/04174721/cee-tech-innovation.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Clean Air Task Force |title=Building Resilience Through Clean Technology Innovation in Central and Eastern Europe |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/04174721/cee-tech-innovation.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cleanairtaskforcendbuilding, author = {{Clean Air Task Force}}, title = {{Building Resilience Through Clean Technology Innovation in Central and Eastern Europe}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/04174721/cee-tech-innovation.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }