Energy transition narratives in the European Union

Today, there is a broad international consensus on the need to ensure carbon neutrality and, more broadly, to address global environmental issues. By promoting increasingly stringent ecological standards and climate regulations in the energy sector and consistently forcing others to emulate its exam...

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Main Author: I. L. Prokhorenko
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Moscow University Press 2023-03-01
Series:Вестник Московского Университета. Серия XXV: Международные отношения и мировая политика
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Online Access:https://fmp.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/157
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author I. L. Prokhorenko
author_facet I. L. Prokhorenko
author_sort I. L. Prokhorenko
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description Today, there is a broad international consensus on the need to ensure carbon neutrality and, more broadly, to address global environmental issues. By promoting increasingly stringent ecological standards and climate regulations in the energy sector and consistently forcing others to emulate its example, the European Union seeks to present itself as a normative power in this area. At the same time, the EU leaders face the need to mobilize public support for the idea of the sustainable climate-oriented transition in order to mitigate its negative economic and social effects. This, in turn, requires the construction and promotion of the compelling and unambiguous energy transition narrative designed to legitimize the EU’s environmental and energy policy. This paper identifies and examines the key elements of such a narrative propagated within the European Union, as well as assesses its perception by various groups of the European countries’ population. The author also outlines a few alternative ‘greentransition’ narratives, which have arisen as a reaction to both the deficiencies of the EU’s energy policy and the challenges posed by the Ukrainian crisis. The author concludes that the EU leaders and the non-governmental and non-profit actors backing them have managed to build a broad and solid public consensus around the official narrative of the energy transition. Under these conditions, one of the central objectives facing the EU leaders is to maintain and strengthen the attained level of public support for its policies, given new transition-related challenges to the territorial integrity and political cohesion of the union. The latter include high inflation rates and the general rise in the cost of living, negative tendencies in the labor market due to its structural transformation, as well as the growing economic heterogeneity of the member states.
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spelling doaj.art-272695157f4549e698e6409f066d06c02024-04-11T09:57:52ZengMoscow University PressВестник Московского Университета. Серия XXV: Международные отношения и мировая политика2076-74042023-03-01144779710.48015/2076-7404-2022-14-4-77-97146Energy transition narratives in the European UnionI. L. Prokhorenko0Национальный исследовательский институт мировой экономики и международных отношений имени Е.М. Примакова, Российская академия наукToday, there is a broad international consensus on the need to ensure carbon neutrality and, more broadly, to address global environmental issues. By promoting increasingly stringent ecological standards and climate regulations in the energy sector and consistently forcing others to emulate its example, the European Union seeks to present itself as a normative power in this area. At the same time, the EU leaders face the need to mobilize public support for the idea of the sustainable climate-oriented transition in order to mitigate its negative economic and social effects. This, in turn, requires the construction and promotion of the compelling and unambiguous energy transition narrative designed to legitimize the EU’s environmental and energy policy. This paper identifies and examines the key elements of such a narrative propagated within the European Union, as well as assesses its perception by various groups of the European countries’ population. The author also outlines a few alternative ‘greentransition’ narratives, which have arisen as a reaction to both the deficiencies of the EU’s energy policy and the challenges posed by the Ukrainian crisis. The author concludes that the EU leaders and the non-governmental and non-profit actors backing them have managed to build a broad and solid public consensus around the official narrative of the energy transition. Under these conditions, one of the central objectives facing the EU leaders is to maintain and strengthen the attained level of public support for its policies, given new transition-related challenges to the territorial integrity and political cohesion of the union. The latter include high inflation rates and the general rise in the cost of living, negative tendencies in the labor market due to its structural transformation, as well as the growing economic heterogeneity of the member states.https://fmp.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/157энергетический переходевропейский союзизменение климатаглобальное потеплениезеленый курснормативная силаустойчивое развитиеклиматическая нейтральностьвозобновляемая энергетикаполитический нарративстратегия нарратива
spellingShingle I. L. Prokhorenko
Energy transition narratives in the European Union
Вестник Московского Университета. Серия XXV: Международные отношения и мировая политика
энергетический переход
европейский союз
изменение климата
глобальное потепление
зеленый курс
нормативная сила
устойчивое развитие
климатическая нейтральность
возобновляемая энергетика
политический нарратив
стратегия нарратива
title Energy transition narratives in the European Union
title_full Energy transition narratives in the European Union
title_fullStr Energy transition narratives in the European Union
title_full_unstemmed Energy transition narratives in the European Union
title_short Energy transition narratives in the European Union
title_sort energy transition narratives in the european union
topic энергетический переход
европейский союз
изменение климата
глобальное потепление
зеленый курс
нормативная сила
устойчивое развитие
климатическая нейтральность
возобновляемая энергетика
политический нарратив
стратегия нарратива
url https://fmp.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/157
work_keys_str_mv AT ilprokhorenko energytransitionnarrativesintheeuropeanunion