Commissioned by Offshore Norway, Menon Economics has carried out an analysis of the current state of public support programmes for green technologies in the US, EU, UK and Norway. In this report we focus on the three industries hydrogen, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and offshore wind, all of which will play a crucial role in the green transition. For each of the industries, we assess the support mechanisms available in each market. Subsequently, we evaluate how these support mechanisms have so far influenced the flow of capital between the US, EU, UK and Norway in the three industries.

We find that the US’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has contributed to the development of green industries in the US. At the same time, the EU, UK and Norway have established their own national or regional support schemes to develop green industries, and we observe that the IRA has, thus far, had a limited effect on the flow of capital between the continents. In the longer term, it is possible that the development of green industries in the US will accelerate and could lead to greater effects on the flow of capital. However, the risk varies across the three three industries and is considered to be greatest in production of hydrogen. Also in the longer term, we anticipate that differences in support mechanisms between the EU/EEA and the United Kingdom may impact capital flows within Europe, and that this effect could be more significant than the flow of capital between the European continent and the US.

Read the full report here.

Contact person: Jonas Erraia