CLEAN ENERGY POLICIES AND ELECTRICITY SECTOR: THE CASE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

The European Union has developed important efforts in enacting various clean-energy policies in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the last decades. A better comprehension about the effects of specific clean-energy actions on reducing greenhouse gas emissions may be especially interesting, in order to allow policy-makers to know the strengths and weaknesses of various power-sector climate-related policies. This paper analyses the effects of both supply-side and demand-side policies and shows empirical evidence of the impact of these policies on carbon emissions reduction. This study is made by means of a panel data method and several regression models that contribute to explain the links between clean-energy policies applied in the European Union and carbon emissions, over the period 2000-2019. The results show that while supply-side policies have shown a positive and effective impact on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, on the demand-side policies, more aggressive efforts are required.