What does EU energy policy mean to you? Regional differences in EU citizens' sentiments on energy transition - socio-economic, political and environmental factors

The EU Green Deal was set as an overarching energy, climate and environmental policy goal for its member states. The urgency of decarbonisation and regional energy security was exacerbated by the COVID-19 outbreak, the 2022 energy crisis, the Russian-Ukrainian war and the resulting inflation rate increases. Yet EU citizens’ opinions on these subjects hugely vary. Employing the 2019 EU Eurobarometer data on Europeans’ attitudes toward the EU energy policy, spatially clustered regression is used to estimate dimensional patterns of citizens’ perception on energy-related issues and the role of the European Union in promoting energy transition and sustainability in its member countries. We delve into geographical differences in the EU to understand possible drivers for a decarbonised, secure and united EU. Particularly, trade, infrastructure, political orientation, EU responsibility with regard to non-EU members’ support, competition, cohesion and gender factors influencing citizens’ sentiments towards EU energy policy transition are analysed. These dynamics are clustered at the country level, highlighting relevant territorial differences in terms of citizens’ views. The findings point to important implications for region-specific energy policy modelling. We learn that citizens’ beliefs that one of the EU energy policy meanings is to shift to renewable energy sources to fight climate change are mostly driven by their political preferences, the importance they give to a cohesive EU, and the perceived relationship between EU and non-EU countries. Moreover, a higher number of factors are shown to be at play in the Baltic, Finnish and Swedish area compared to the rest of Europe.