Differentiation of the Level of Sustainable Development of Energy Markets in the European Union Countries

Abstract

The economic development of the EU’s countries depends on stable and permanent access to various energy sources. The integration of European energy markets is a long-term process. Each member country has a different energy balance, energy resources and electricity generation technologies. Therefore, comparing Member States with one another is a complex task. The article deals with organizing the set of objects in multidimensional spaces of variables from the point of view of a certain characteristics that cannot be measured in a simple way, i.e., the relative level of the development of energy markets. The following diagnostic variables were adopted for the analysis: consumption of electric energy generated from renewables per capita (TWH/person), hard coal consumption (million tons/person), greenhouse gas emissions per capita, available for final consumption gigawatt-hour per person, final energy consumption thousand tons of oil equivalent (TOE) per person, petroleum available for final consumption (gigawatt-hour), natural gas (terajoule gross calorific value-GCV) per person, energy intensity of GDP (kilograms of oil equivalent (KGOE) per thousand euro, import dependency %. The article draws upon the cluster analysis, which uses the methods and techniques that enable to extract such objects (countries) from the data set, which would be similar to each other and combine them into groups. The purpose of the article is to examine and discus the diversity of Member States on the level of development of energy markets taking into account the specific situation of Poland. The presented model has the potential to be used at the level of enterprises from various industries to evaluate the level of sustainable development. The algorithm modification will only require the selection of available diagnostic variables describing the given enterprise.

The Consumption of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) by the European Union Households between 2004 and 2019

“…In Poland, for example, the introduction of the "Clean Air" program (EU support) has widely promoted the replacement of old boilers using non-renewable solid fuels with boilers using biomass. Of all heat source applications, 1/5 requested subsidies for biomass boilers [103]. Some countries have even committed to increasing the use of wood pellets.…”

Personalization of Products in the Industry 4.0 Concept and Its Impact on Achieving a Higher Level of Sustainable Consumption

“…In the turbulently changing environment enterprises are forced to search for the most effective methods of monitoring and detecting changes in the environment, to take effective adaptation activities leading to a continuous build competitive advantage [38][39][40]. Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) is one of the many EU priorities [41], tries to combine on the one hand the need to meet needs, improve the quality of life, and on the other hand, improve resource efficiency, increase the use of renewable energy sources, and minimize waste. The integration of these elements is the main goal of modern economies, which want to provide the same or better services to meet the basic requirements of life and aspirations to improve the quality of life while constantly reducing environmental damage and risks to human health.…”

Does CSR Affect the Profitability and Valuation of Energy Companies? An Example from Poland

“…Poland refrained from investing in RES, justifying it with rich deposits and experience in mining (scientific, engineering and technical support, access to modern machinery) and a significantly lower cost of energy production from fossil resources [61]. The Polish energy market is unique in the European Union, due to the largest share of hard coal and the use of lignite to produce electricity (48% hard coal and 29% lignite in 2018) [62,63]. This is due to, inter alia, delays in the implementation of the European energy policy [64,65], which will result in an accumulation of changes in the sector in a relatively short time.…”