Renewable energy has geopolitical consequences that go beyond the immediate impact on energy and commodity markets. Individual countries’ energy strategies have a variety of economic and political ramifications. This article examines the importance of renewable energy in EU-China relations, as two of the world’s largest renewable energy producers. Both countries’ individual objectives for decarbonization of their domestic energy systems have lately risen, and renewables are playing an increasingly crucial role in shaping their bilateral relations. As a result, we wonder what impact renewable energy has on the connection between the two parties. We use the concept of policy interdependence to capture the effect in four sectors relevant to renewable energy: climate, energy, industry, and trade and investment policy.
While these are frequently thought of as independent fields, they are all connected by renewable energy. Renewable energy has the potential to be a factor of bilateral ties, according to the findings. In the past, renewable energy helped the EU and China align more closely, but today’s increased reliance on policy choices based on national goals raises barriers to further cooperation. However, the patterns of policy interdependence shown in this study point to the possibility of renewed cooperation in the sphere of energy policy, assuming policymakers’ ability to see beyond the current structure of bilateral ties.
The case of renewable energy in EU-China ties demonstrates that renewables are becoming an increasingly important and powerful influencer of bilateral relations’ nature. Because of the technological differences between renewables and fossil fuels, many classic geopolitical factors may not apply in RE geopolitics. However, policy interdependence between the EU and China in the sphere of renewable energy demonstrates that renewables co-determine bilateral interactions beyond the immediate energy and material flows between individual countries. As the instance of the EU and China demonstrates, RE policies interact, resulting in more alignment and proximity on the one hand, as well as increased competitiveness and frictions on the other. As a result, the advancement of RE has the potential to “de-geopolitize” international relations, allowing states to move beyond “zero-sum” thinking in their pursuit of energy security. However, RE is not immune to worldwide competition, as seen by the growing struggle over the establishment of industrial standards in RE, as well as trade and investment.