EU industrial policy: Between modernization and transformation of the automotive industry

The transport sector accounts for 27 % of total CO2 emissions in the EU, with almost half of these being attributed to passenger cars and the automotive industry. In order to meet the Paris Agreement 1.5 degrees C target, these figures call for interventionist policies that go beyond individual consumer choice and transform industrial sectors. The article conceptually elaborates on the advancements in transformation and transition studies to analyse the role of industrial policy for accelerating social-ecological transformations. The article empirically analyses key characteristics of EU industrial policy and critically discusses its potential for transforming the automotive sector, based on a qualitative case study of the Austrian automotive (supplier) industry. Our analysis suggests that EU industrial policies at most ecologically modernise and at worst actively conserve the unsustainable structures of the automotive industry. This is because EU automotive industrial policies (1) defend economic growth and competitiveness, (2) focus narrowly on innovation (policy) and refuse to disrupt unsustainable industrial pathways as well as (3) promote ecological modernisation through efficiency instead of absolute emission reductions. The article concludes with entry points for a transformative industrial policy beyond ecological modernisation.