A Study Of The Factors Influencing The Energy Transition In EU Member States

The energy transition is being promoted by governments around the world as a necessary pathway to climate neutrality,with the EU being one of the leaders.The EU member states are influenced by many factors in the energy transition process and have developed their own energy transition pathways,with some of them achieving significant successes.By summarizing the EU documents and studies in energy transition-related fields,the paper suggests that the energy transition in EU member states is mainly influenced by four factors: energy supply security,economic competitiveness,environmental protection willingness and governance mechanisms.Based on this,this paper proposes a policy analysis framework that integrates these four influencing factors to assess the transition paths of EU member states.Under this framework,the factors influencing the energy transition in each EU member state are decomposed into two antecedent variables,making a total of eight variables.This paper uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis(fs QCA)to analyze the cases of27 EU member states and finds that strong environmental drive in member countries,fast growth of competitiveness of new energy industries,fast growth of citizens’ environmental awareness in member states,fast growth of citizens’ trust level for governance mechanisms and low EU support for member states are the core conditions for the stage achievement of energy transition in EU member states,and finds that fast growth of geopolitical risks is an important condition for the stage achievement of energy transition in EU member states.On this basis,this paper summarizes the three paths of energy transition in EU member states that have achieved milestones,namely developed path,exemplary path and developmental path.Therefore,in the process of energy transition,EU member states should implement the strategy of energy import diversification to mitigate the geopolitical risks brought about by energy transition;they should vigorously develop new energy industries,encourage enterprises to master new energy core technologies,and reduce the cost of energy transition;they should actively participate in international organizations willing to protect the environment and become active actors in global energy governance;they should educate citizens on environmental protection through government propaganda,school education and social organization to raise citizens’ awareness of environmental protection;they should enhance the independence of our own energy transition process and reduce the need for external financial support;they should support existing governance mechanisms and actively participate in the construction of energy governance mechanisms.