The European Green Deal and industrial competitiveness: a comparative analysis of the European Union with respect to the United States and China (2012-2023)

The Green Deal is the European Union's major commitment to the future, aimed at achieving energy transition and developing a green industry that is a world leader in sustainability. However, there has always been concern that the sustainability of European industry might be achieved at the expense of its competitiveness. The aim of this paper is therefore to assess the evolution of industrial competitiveness in the European Union-27 as a whole following the implementation of the Green Deal, and to analyze whether this initiative generates a competitive advantage or disadvantage relative to the United States and China. To carry out this work, the difference-in-differences technique will be used on the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index. The results of this study show that there is no loss of industrial competitiveness, but rather a small gain with respect to China and the United States, which is much more pronounced in the latter case. Additionally, no significant differences are detected in the evolution of industrial competitiveness between energy-intensive and non-energy-intensive sectors.