CONVERGENCE OF THE UKRAINIAN AND EU ENERGY POLICIES

Abstract

This paper summarizes the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on the issue of the need to form a new strategy for energy conservation and energy efficiency at the national level in Ukraine. It resulted from the imbalanced and asynchronized environmental, energy and economic policies. Furthermore, it is essential to develop effective mechanisms to improve the energy security of Ukraine and eliminate problems regarding the aggravation of environmental conflicts, significant levels of energy consumption and greenhouse gases growth. The main purpose of the research is to assess the convergence of energy efficiency policies in Ukraine and developed EU countries. To achieve the study goal, the investigation provides the main indicators of the World Energy Trilemma Index, which is classified into three main groups as follows: energy security, energy equity, environmental sustainability. The object of research is Ukraine and the developed EU countries such as Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Croatia. The choice of these EU countries is caused by their similar characteristic on transformation processes in the political sphere (refusal of the monopoly of Communist Party 1990–1992) and economic (transition from centralized management to market economy). In the frame of this study, the authors analyzed σ- and β-convergences for mentioned above countries. The period of investigation is 2000–2020. Sources of statistical information are the following statistical databases: World Bank, Eurostat and Ukrstat.org. The empirical calculations results highlighted that the introduction of mechanisms in reducing energy gaps could become an impelling force in synchronizing national energy policy with the strategic objectives of sustainable development. Therefore, the author emphasized the necessity to implement innovative, cost-effective energy technologies and develop new approaches to sustainable energy development on the national level. The obtained study results could be applied for solving the contradictions in the implementation of the Ukrainian energy policy.