The EU's environmental performance has been primarily driven by economic crises

conducted at the University of Helsinki analyzed three case studies that address the EU's ability to address environmental sustainability issues and the development of low-carbon technologies, such as solar photovoltaics and hydrogen. The first case study examined industrial policy in the EU during the first term of the von der Leyen Commission.

The second case study analyzed the adoption of solar energy following the REPowerEU initiative. Although the EU has leveraged geopolitical changes and technological advancements to expand solar energy, the strategy has remained unclear according to the research.

" The unresolved conflicts over the large-scale deployment of solar power underscore a potentially missed opportunity to reconfigure the least desirable social institutions underpinning the current fossil fuel-based world economy," states Rubén Vezzoni from the University of Helsinki.

Hydrogen production linked to oil and gas industry

The third case study focused on hydrogen. While being marketed as a clean energy source, the research revealed that hydrogen production and consumption are tied to established production networks, particularly in the oil and gas industry.

" Perhaps counterintuitively, amidst the hype surrounding the emerging hydrogen economy, the possibilities for scaling down instead of expanding hydrogen production warrant further exploration," Vezzoni says.

The dissertation encourages consideration of how we can improve the quality of future societies through investments in low-carbon energy.

The research emphasizes that current green transition strategies require profound re-evaluation. If green growth strategies fail to deliver the promised results, Europeans may soon find themselves tied to a development model that, while seeking to restore the material gains of the ‘Golden Age of capitalism’, achieves only modest progress in decarbonisation at the expense of increasingly strenuous living conditions.

" While biophysical limits are real and increasingly pressing, the way societies organise themselves within such limits is not preordained," Vezzoni notes.

The dissertation opens up opportunities for repoliticising public discourse on how to live sustainably on planet Earth. The research addresses the prospects of green growth and energy policy in Europe, highlighting the relevance of studying the political economy promoting, and sustained by, investments in low-carbon energy. 

For more information: 
Rubén Vezzoni
Phone: +31 610 328 680
nl