Europe’s green industrial transition is at a crossroads. The European Union is attempting to reconcile three demanding objectives at once : restoring industrial competitiveness, strengthening strategic autonomy, and accelerating decarbonisation. To do so, it is deploying a mix of regulatory, financial and trade instruments that mark a shift toward a more interventionist industrial policy—yet one whose contours remain unclear and whose tools are not always aligned.

Among these tools, public procurement stands out as both under-used and full of potential. Representing nearly 15% of EU GDP, procurement markets could become a powerful lever for steering European industry towards environmental, social and economic objectives. But using them strategically brings to the surface tensions between traditional procurement principles—primarily cost-efficiency and competition—and broader industrial ambitions such as resilience, sustainability, and supply-chain transformation.

This brief argues that these tensions can be constructively resolved, and illustrates how through the emblematic case of the automotive sector. If mobilised deliberately, public procurement can act as a catalyst for the transition : by making sustainability a core pillar of industrial strategy ; by treating the 2035 phase-out of internal combustion engines as a critical milestone requiring support for industrial adaptation ; and by reinforcing Europe’s strategic autonomy through policies rooted in sufficiency, resource efficiency and the circular economy.