An evaluation of the energy and environmental policy efficiency of the EU member states in a 25-year period from a Modern Portfolio Theory perspective

Abstract

[Abstract]: The European Union has been developing its energy and environmental policy for the last 30 years. Recent communications issued by the European Commission confirm the leadership of the European Union on reducing pollutant gas emissions and technological change towards a climate neutral economy. This work assesses the efficiency of European energy policy under a Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) approach. This proposal analyses the disaggregated European power portfolio: to make a more exhaustive analysis, focusing individually on each European country along the period 1990-2015. The efficiency of the energy and environmental policy of each Member State is measured by their distance to the power generation efficient frontier. The quadratic optimization model used by MPT is complemented by a cluster analysis in order to identify different groups of EU member states according to their behaviour patterns regarding the application of their energy and environmental policies without overlooking the efficiency of that implementation. Results stand out that France, Slovakia and Sweden belong to the “leader” efficient cluster for the analysed period. In turn, Denmark, Germany, Greece and Italy show a high consistency in the application of their energy and environmental policies as they improved their positions for the considered years.