Russia's political discourse on the EU’s energy transition (2014–2019) and its effect on EU-Russia energy relations

Tatiana Romanova

Energy Policy, 2021, vol. 154, issue C

Abstract: Four interpretations of the EU's energy transition can be identified in Russia's political discourse in 2014–2019 based on the matrix that combines realist and liberal approaches to energy relations and the denial or recognition of climate change. The cross-cutting idea of these interpretations is that Russia follows the market logics, whereas the EU either politicises energy relations or chooses economically unreasonable options. Most Russian actors advance all four interpretations in parallel. A liberal interpretation, which recognises climate change, became dominant towards the end of the examined period. Two main policy options are shaped by Russia's political discourse on the EU's energy transition: maintaining the status quo in EU-Russian gas trade and diversifying Russia's export markets. Russia's political discourse reveals a strong ideational difference with the EU on future energy policies, and Russia poorly engages with the EU's post-2030 planning. It is recommended that the EU improve its energy transition communication with Russia, and Russia is advised to enlarge the range of its policy options by better engaging with the EU's long-term energy planning. Russia and the EU also must examine energy transition in the broader context of their relations. Practical project-based cooperation can contribute to ideational convergence between the EU and Russia on future energy policies.

Keywords: European Union; Russia; Discourse; Decarbonisation; Energy transition; Natural gas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421521001786
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:154:y:2021:i:c:s0301421521001786

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112309

Access Statistics for this article

Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France

More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().