Energy Performance of the European Union Countries in Terms of Reaching the European Energy Union Objectives

Abstract

European energy policy, especially the project of the Energy Union, is one of the most rapidly developing areas of the EU, and one through which European institutions are obtaining gradually more extensive power over the performance of the national energy sectors. The paper focuses on an analysis of the energy performance of EU member states (MS) with regard to the priorities of the European Energy Union. For an assessment of the energy performance of EU countries, the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was chosen, using the Coefficient of Variation method (CV) as an objective method for determining the weights of eight input indicators, including CO2 intensity, electricity and gas price, energy productivity, energy dependence, consumption of renewables and research and development. The analysis for the period from 2008 to 2016 showed significant changes in the input indicators, which directly influenced the results of both methods mentioned above. Long-term differences between the best- and worst-rated countries are seen mainly in CO2 emissions, energy imports and total consumption of renewable energy sources. It is these aspects of comprehensive energy performance and their convergence at the level of EU countries that we believe should be addressed in the near future.

Assessing the Level of Energy and Climate Sustainability in the European Union Countries in the Context of the European Green Deal Strategy and Agenda 2030

“…Another study [66] also presents the results of the research on the ranking of the EU countries in terms of energy development. They were shown to differ from those obtained in this article.…”

“…The remaining countries were characterized by the high medium level and low medium (warning) levels. In the case of Sweden, Denmark, and Austria, this result is completely understandable, because, as the authors [66][67][68][69][70][71] indicate, these countries already embarked on the path of energy transition toward green energy and climate protection in the 1970s and 1980s. According to the model presented in Section 2, which enables the ranking and assessment of the EU countries in terms of the level of energy and climate sustainable development, an analysis of this development was made for each studied dimension, i.e., energy, Based on the analysis of the whole period, it was found that the high level of energy and climate sustainable development was reported for three countries: Sweden, Denmark, and France and Austria, and the low level (dangerous) for Poland, Cyprus, and Bulgaria.…”

Poland as the EU Leader in Terms of Photovoltaic Market Growth Dynamics—Behind the Scenes

“…The policy of the European Union in the field of renewable energy is unambiguousthe European economy is to strive to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which is evidently related to the development of renewable energy sources [20,21]. Efficient use of energy, as well as human, economic and natural resources, is a basic principle of sustainable energy development (SED) [22].…”

Intuitionistic Fuzzy TOPSIS as a Method for Assessing Socioeconomic Phenomena on the Basis of Survey Data

“…The spectrum of socioeconomic analyses to which the TOPSIS method is applied is very wide. Studies using the TOPSIS method have investigated human capital [ 9 ], the macroeconomic situation [ 10 ], international trade performance [ 11 ], smart development [ 12 ], innovation [ 13 ], energy performance [ 14 ], sustainable development [ 8 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ], economic development [ 19 ], social development [ 20 ], healthcare [ 21 ], and eGovernment development [ 22 ], among others. The authors used different variants or hybrids of TOPSIS methods, and their analyses were based on different sources of data.…”

“…Sielska [ 21 ] conducted a comparative analysis of the level of healthcare in European Union countries. Vavrek and Chovancová [ 14 ] analyzed the energy performance of EU member states concerning the priorities of the European Energy Union. The common feature of the above-presented surveys is that they were conducted using Eurostat databases.…”