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Abstract
The geopolitical implications of renewable energy involve changes beyond the immediate impact on energy and commodity streams. Energy policies of individual countries affect each other via different economic and political channels. This paper studies the role of renewable energy in EU-China relations, two leading powers in the field of renewable energy. Both polities have recently increased their individual ambitions towards decarbonisation of their domestic energy systems, and renewables play an increasingly important role in shaping their bilateral dealings. We therefore ask what influence renewable energy has on the relationship between both sides. To capture the effect, we employ the concept of policy interdependence in four areas related to renewable energy namely climate, energy, industry, and trade and investment policy. While these are often seen as separate fields, they are all related to renewable energy. Findings indicate that renewable energy has the potential to be a determinant of bilateral relations. Renewable energy contributed to greater alignment between the EU and China in the past, while increasing recourse to policy choices based on national priorities today creates obstacles to further cooperation. However, the patterns of policy interdependence identified in this study also suggest potential for renewed cooperation in the field of energy policy, depending on the capability of policymakers to see beyond the current structure of the bilateral relationship.
Highlights
Scholars in the field of renewable energy (RE) largely agree that the transition to renewables is a source of international influence (Oberthür and Dupont, 2021, pp. 10–12) and capable of reconfiguring countries’ external energy relations (Adelphi, 2020)
In 2016, the European Commission argued regarding their economic relationship that, “China needs the EU as much as the EU needs China” (European Commission, 2016a). It follows that characterising the eco nomic interdependence between the EU and China and its trajectory pro vides a first indicator regarding the role of RE in the relations between the two polities
The case of renewable energy in EU-China relations suggests that renewables are an increasingly important and strong determinant of the character of bilateral relations
Summary
Scholars in the field of renewable energy (RE) largely agree that the transition to renewables is a source of international influence (Oberthür and Dupont, 2021, pp. 10–12) and capable of reconfiguring countries’ external energy relations (Adelphi, 2020). The line that separates the Comprehensive Stra tegic Partnership between the EU and China (European Commission, 2003; Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2003) from what has been termed competition and systemic rivalry (European Commission, 2019b), is relatively thin In this context, renewable energy represents an increasingly impor tant factor. Numerous studies assess the effect of renewable energy on the integration of electricity grids at various levels, from bilateral (Escribano, 2019) to global (Brinkerink et al, 2019) In this type of literature, the geographical and technical characteristics of energy systems are expected to represent major factors in shaping the economic interdependencies underlying the political relations between two or more states in the context of a ‘grid community’ (Scholten and Bosman, 2016; Hogselius, 2019). Policy interdependence is introduced to fill this gap
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