US tax breaks lure European clean tech companies as EU lags

April 17, 2023  -LONDON (AP) — Norwegian startup Freyr will first build batteries to power electric vehicles and store clean energy in a remote town near the Arctic Circle. Up next? An Atlanta suburb.

That’s because a new U.S. clean energy law offers generous tax credits — up to 40% of costs — in what is a “massive, massive incentive” for producing in America, CEO Tom Einar Jensen said.

Across Europe, companies seeking to invest in the green energy boom — churning out everything from solar panels to windmills and EV batteries — are making similar calculations, weighing up the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act’s $375 billion in benefits for renewable industries against a fragmented response that European leaders have been scrambling to patch together for months.

The law aims to kick-start the U.S. transition away from climate-changing fossil fuels with tax credits and rebates that favor clean technology made in North America.