Report

Europe’s electric backbone

September 15, 2026

A strategy for the future of batteries

Batteries are the backbone of Europe’s future energy system, its industrial base and its defence readiness. Europe is embedding them across systems at record pace while producing almost none of the key inputs. All of that is supported by public money. This paper sets out the strategic case to strengthen Europe’s battery value chain, the security exposure Europe risks accumulating as things stand, and what the EU must do in the next three years to scale a competitive European battery sector.

About the Backbone Coalition

The Backbone Coalition is focused on strengthening Europe’s battery value chain. It brings together expertise across industry, investment, energy and security to build support for the policies and investment needed to scale a competitive European battery sector.

The Coalition believes that batteries are a strategic gateway technology for Europe, underpinning secure electricity grids, industrial capacity and defence. It is working to reduce Europe’s exposure to concentrated supply-chain dependencies, strengthen European and trusted allied production, and ensure that public policy creates the demand, investment conditions and resilience needed to compete in the electrified economy.