K2SP 3945 - Green Industrial Policies in Europe: a case study

This course aims to offer a comprehensive introduction to green industrial policies within the European context. It combines historical perspective, economic theory, empirical evaluation, and political economy analysis. Students will explore what industrial policies are, why they could be necessary to drive the green transition, what forms they can take in Europe or elsewhere, and under which institutional and democratic conditions they can succeed. While the steel and automotive industries serve as the main empirical anchors of the course, other sectors will also be discussed. Particular attention will also be devoted to evaluation methods: how to assess whether a green industrial project deserves public support, and how to measure its long-term economic, social, and environmental returns.

The course will not provide an exhaustive technical training in environmental economics, nor a sector-by-sector inventory of European industries. It will not focus on corporate strategy or on the engineering of green technologies. Rather, it adopts the perspective of public policy: how States in advanced economies, and their financial arms design, evaluate, finance, govern industrial transformations under climate constraints, and what trade-offs this entails for democracy, labor markets, territories, and Europe’s place in the world.

There are no formal prerequisites. The course is designed to be accessible to students with diverse academic backgrounds. However, students will benefit from prior exposure to:

• Basic concepts in microeconomics (externalities, public goods, market failures);
• Introductory notions of European institutions and EU policy-making;
• A general understanding of climate policy instruments (carbon pricing, regulation, subsidies).

The course consists of twelve two-hour sessions combining lectures and interventions from guest speakers. Each session is built around a core analytical question and mobilizes empirical and policy material drawn from European, French and international experience.

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It combines:

• Interactive lectures introducing the key concepts, the empirical literature, and the relevant institutional framework, with systematic time devoted to discussion;
• Guest speakers invited to share their research or operational experience on selected topics. Confirmed or pending guests include researchers and policy-makers working on industrial policy, carbon regulation, innovation policy, trade, and green planning;
• A group project (mini-dissertation) running throughout the semester, in which students evaluate a real or planned industrial policy project in France or Europe.

Students are expected to come prepared, having read the assigned material, and to contribute actively to discussion.

Assessment is combining one collective and one individual component.

• Group project — Mini-dissertation (30%): Groups of 3 to 4 students produce a 10-20pages written evaluation of a real or planned green industrial policy project in France or Europe (e.g., a gigafactory, a hydrogen project, a renewable energy investment, a strategic raw materials project). The mini-dissertation must mobilize the evaluation framework introduced in Session 4 and engage explicitly with the relevant European institutional context. An indicative example is available on the Institut Avant-Garde website (evaluation of ProLogium Technology Co. in Dunkirk).
• Group oral defense (30%): A 30-minute oral defense per group, scheduled outside class hours, in which the project is presented and discussed with the instructor and a discussant.
• Individual written exam (35%): An in-class individual written exam designed to assess students' ability to mobilize the project evaluation framework introduced in Session 4 on a concrete European case. Each student receives a short dossier (5–8 pages) on a specific industrial project, for example, the Intel semiconductor plant in Magdeburg or a comparable case. Within two hours and without access to AI tools, students write a two-page policy memo addressed to a senior public decision-maker, assessing whether the project warrants public support and on what grounds.
• Class participation (5%): Quality of engagement in class discussions and case studies.

The mini-dissertation project will be introduced in Session 4 to allow students sufficient time to develop and refine their evaluation.

The course requires individual preparation between sessions. For each session, students are expected to prepare one of the mandatory text, and skim 1–2 of the other recommended texts.

In addition, group work on the mini-dissertation requires approximately 30–40 hours per student over the semester. Total expected workload is approximately 100–120 hours over the semester, including class time.