On 10 February 2026, the European Commission’s Directorate General for Regional Policy published a study entitled “The Geography of the Green Transition: Performance, Vulnerabilities and Opportunities”. Using the Regional Green Transition Performance (RGTP) index, the study evaluated 232 EU NUTS 2 regions across five dimensions: decarbonisation speed, energy efficiency, circular economy, innovation capacity, and employment quality.

The top 20 regions are dominated by Northern Europe (Sweden, Finland, Denmark) and the Netherlands, characterised by renewable penetration above 60%, waste recycling rates above 70%, and a high number of green patents per capita. The bottom 20 regions are concentrated in Poland (Silesia), Bulgaria (Stara Zagora), Romania (Gorj) and Czechia (Moravian Silesian), where economies are heavily dependent on coal mining and heavy industry, and unemployment has risen by 2 4 percentage points during the energy transition.

The report identifies two types of vulnerability: “carbon lock in” and “capacity poor”. The former requires large scale retraining and alternative industrial investment; the latter lacks even basic administrative capacity to apply for EU Just Transition Funds. To address this, the report proposes a “Regional Technical Assistance Window” and will launch “Transition Acceleration Laboratories” for 25 most vulnerable regions in the second quarter of 2026, each receiving at least €5 million in direct support.