abstract
- © 2020 Elsevier LtdThe EU is committed to become climate-neutral by 2050 while keeping its prosperity intact. To align the bloc towards this goal, it is fundamental to understand the spatial differences in energy performance among its members. The present study aims to identify the main drivers of primary energy intensity differences among fourteen European countries (i.e., the EU15 without Luxemburg) during the period 2000¿2010. To do so, we apply for the first time the multi-factor energy input-output model to spatial structural decomposition analysis. The results show that differences in the industrial direct energy intensity and in the mix of final energy demand were the driving factors of primary energy intensity differences among countries, while, remarkably, structural differences in both the energy sector and in the rest of the economy were not as relevant. This implies that deepening industrial and residential efficiency policies should be a key objective in addition to the current policy efforts to deploy renewables in the energy sector. In addition, we show that the proposed approach helps overcome the main shortcomings of conventional spatial decomposition approaches, e.g., the inconsistent accounting of energy conversion processes in the economy; and its detailed results can be translated into more effective policy making.