R&D Spending in the Energy Sector and Achieving the Goal of Climate Neutrality

Abstract

Research and development (R&D) spending in the energy sector, which is aimed at exploring ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, among other things, plays a vital role in achieving the goal of climate neutrality. The purpose of this paper is to assess the environmental performance of R&D spending in the energy sector of selected EU member states from 2011–2017/2019, and to compare the results. Taxonomic research with the zero unitarization method was used, which enabled a synthetic assessment of EU countries according to the environmental performance of the total spending in the energy sector and an analysis of the changes in performance for six categories of spending in this area. The assessment of changes in the environmental performance of individual categories of R&D spending over time using the applied method was an added value compared with the assessment methods previously used in this area. The study found that there were significant differences in the level of environmental efficiency of R&D expenditures in the energy sector between countries, changes in environmental efficiency in most of the countries studied were not satisfactory, the most environmentally efficient expenditures were on renewable energy, other power and storage, hydro and fuel cell technologies, and the least on fossil fuels and nuclear energy. The results reflected both the member states’ progress towards climate neutrality and the discussion on the environmental performance of the means and directions of actions aimed at this.

Two-Stage Data Envelopment Analysis Models with Negative System Outputs for the Efficiency Evaluation of Government Financial Policies

“…There is contradictory evidence in the scientific literature. Some studies provide results that prove that public spending on energy research, development and demonstration has played a significant role in reducing environmental pollution and GHG emissions [31,63], while others claim that changes in environmental efficiency due to public spending have been unsatisfactory in most countries [29,64,65].…”

“…In real practical cases, the stated political goals may not be achieved, at least in the time under study [29][30][31]. This is due not necessarily to the inefficiency of public spending, but also to the presence of multidirectional processes in the macroeconomic system.…”

Public Funding for Energy Innovation and Decarbonization Goals: A Coherence Challenge

“…Much attention has been paid to this problem in modern literature. For example, study (Guzowska et al, 2021) shows that there were significant differences in the level of environmental efficiency of R&D expenditures in the energy sector between European countries, and changes in environmental efficiency in most of the countries studied were not satisfactory. Paper (Danish, 2022) proves that public budget on energy research, development and demonstration have the significant role in decreasing environmental pollution, including CO 2 emissions.…”

Parameter Extraction of Solar Module Using the Sooty Tern Optimization Algorithm

“…Recently, clean energy usage has increased significantly as demand for all other fuels declined because of environmental concerns. As a result" the scientific community made substantial efforts to harvest energy from different ambient sources [1][2][3][4][5]. Solar energy harvesting has become the most ideal option since it surpasses all traditional nonrenewable and renewable resources [6].…”