#63 Alicia García-Herrero: Can the EU Build a Resilient and Sustainable Green Tech Strategy to Counter China?

Is China making its green stride forward? Listen to Chief Economist and Bruegel Senior Fellow, Alicia García-Herrero.

As the world faces the dual challenges of addressing climate change and navigating geopolitical tensions, cooperation on climate goals is under threat. China’s role in green technology has made it a vital player, but it is also increasingly seen as a rival, or even a threat, by other global powers.

Electric vehicles (EVs) have become the latest flashpoint, with the United States and European Union imposing punitive tariffs on Chinese EV imports, intensifying trade disputes.

This week on the podcast, Richard Howitt speaks with Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis and Senior Fellow at Bruegel, joining from Hong Kong. Drawing on her extensive expertise, Alicia discusses how the EU can navigate its growing reliance on Chinese green tech and craft a competitive industrial strategy.

You will hear more about:

China’s green tech dominance and contradictions in its decarbonization goals.
The implications of global dependence on Chinese renewable energy technologies.
The impact of trade wars and tariffs on China’s green tech monopoly.
Strategies for the EU to counterbalance China’s influence while advancing its sustainability goals.

"The EU needs to be loud and clear as to what they are offering. We need to realize that this needs to be done under a different hat: one of partnership, one where everybody has the same say. And that's very different from China. China has a hub and spoke approach. China is at the center and talks to everybody, but nobody talks to each other. If we don’t try to show that what we offer is more encompassing or perhaps even more rewarding in terms of job creation and welfare creation for these countries, then it is a lost battle."

Alicia García-Herrero in Frankly Speaking