Comparing Energy Transition in the European Union and China: Challenges and Opportunities

One of the major global threats facing humanity today is environmental degradation and climate change. The most important cause is undisputed: the massive use of fossil fuels. Transitioning to the use of renewable energy sources is the single most important step that states and societies could take to curb further damage. It is important to realise, however, that the energy transition will be a slow process, partly due to a lack of sufficient and suitable technologies and infrastructure, efficient government policies, limited investments by both the private and public sectors, and opposing corporate interests. This means that the main energy consuming countries and regions, particularly the advanced industrial countries, must have an appropriate energy transition policy strategy. Such a policy needs to address not only investing at the national level but also developing renewable energy sectors in other suitable countries and regions. The complexity of this transition is thus unprecedented and requires constant readjustment and rethinking – both directly and indirectly related to the use of energy – on all its facets at home and abroad.

Studying the EU and China’s experiences with energy transition from fossil fuels towards renewables, this workshop aims to primarily understand the geopolitical and geo-economic consequences of the on-going global energy transition. In doing so with the insights of scholars from a range of academic disciplines, this workshop will simultaneously advance several areas of knowledge including energy security, renewable energy technologies and markets, the bilateral and transnational energy relations of the EU and China.