Clean energy: The EU "generally 2^nd major knowledge producer on early-stage technologies", behind China

"China consistently leads global scientific and technological output across the detected emerging clean energy technologies", states a news report from the Joint Research Center, released on 25/02/2026. "The EU is generally the second major producer of knowledge, with stronger specialisation emerging mainly in high technology readiness level (TRL) market-ready technologies, including in advanced fuels, geothermal hydropower, photovoltaics, and smart electricity".

The report focuses on technology development, trends, value chains and markets. The analysis identifies 151 early-stage technologies in the field of clean energy and "focuses on how major economies are positioned across a broad set of emerging clean energy technologies at different TRLs, using indicators derived from scientific publications and patents".

The EU is also "active in low-TRL tech for bioenergy and for carbon capture, storage and utilisation. It focuses on emerging technologies with a higher TRL, likely reflecting policies promoting decarbonisation goals and the green transition".

Furthermore, the report shows…