Northvolt Bankruptcy Has Humbling Lesson for Europe
Catching up in the clean-tech race will require outside help.
Europe needs to learn the right lessons from tech startup Northvolt’s collapse.
Photographer: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images
The collapse of battery startup Northvolt AB is a significant blow to Europe’s clean tech ambitions, but it’s important the continent learns the right lessons. While the Swedish firm’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on Thursday should prompt soul-searching, its unravelling shows Europe lacks experience and execution, not capital or ambition. Catching up in the clean tech race may require a little more humility — and outside help.
The failure of what until recently was one of Europe’s most valuable startups couldn’t have come at a worse moment. Europe is rightly alarmed about falling behind the US and China economically and in the tech race, and the financial resolve of governments and their citizens to tackle climate change is stuttering.