European External Energy Policy in Times of the Energy Transition

Abstract

The energy transition is picking up speed. Marketable technologies in combination with novel regulation accelerate the switch from fossil fuels to renewables at unprecedented levels around the world. Many countries have initiated ambitious energy and climate policies. The EU’s Energy Union initiative bears evidence of a broad societal consensus to transform the energy system. And the Paris Agreement has defined an international framework of shared climate objectives the offers policy guidance. At the same time, the global energy transition raises a number of foreign policy and security challenges. Even conservative scenarios predict that the share of renewables in the world’s energy mix will be above 50 per cent in 2050. This transition is set to transform international energy relations and the understanding of energy security. Issues such as technology transfer, protection of energy systems from cyberattacks, access to critical materials, unequal access to sustainable energy in the world are just some of the emerging challenges (cf. O’Sullivan, Overland, and Sandalow 2017). Neither individual countries nor the EU have coherently addressed these challenges in their external energy policies. The Energy Union initiative, for instance, is inherently inward looking while the EU’s external energy policy and energy diplomacy remains anchored in securing access to hydrocarbon resources. This Panel deal with the external dimensions of national, European and global energy policy in times of the energy transition. What are the external implications of internal system change? Which instruments and institutions define access, influence and power? And what are the properties of external energy relations in a post-carbon world?