Energy transition in the European Union - institutional and legal factors

Abstract

The subject of the research problem addressed in the article concerns the importance of institutional and legal (or, more broadly, political) factors of energy transition in the European Union. Following Aleh Cherp and his team, political factors are understood as state objectives, political interests and institutional capabilities and factors of other types. All of them, as a whole, enter into a relationship with other factors, such as socio-technical and techno-economic ones. Referring to F. W. Geels, the European Union can be defined as a kind of socio-technical regime (energy regime), responsive to internal or external threats or adverse events. The main purpose of the analysis is to present the relationship between the institutional and legal, socio-technical, and techno-economic factors. In order to specify the research problem, the research question has been posed of the extent to which institutional and legal factors affect energy transition in the European Union. To answer this question, the analysis relies on the theoretical aspects of energy transition studies, the institutional and legal approach and secondary statistical data.