reSET · Complex Regional Economic Systems in Sustainable Energy Transition: Theory, Models, Empirics, and Policies for Southern Europe

Against the backdrop of a looming global environmental crisis, a sustainable energy transition driven by public and private finance and innovation paves the way for the emergence of novel technologies, industries, value chains, consumption patterns, etc., under a techno-economic paradigm that promises to lead to a ‘great surge of development’ decoupled from environmental harm. The diffusion and adoption of this new paradigm, however, seems to be too sluggish to avert ecological collapse, uncertain in view of geopolitical conflict and the impending energy crisis, and highly uneven in time and space due to core-periphery disparities. In Europe, this paradigm shift presents opportunities but also major challenges for peripheral regions, which necessitate more radical industrial strategies.This highly topical project will investigate from a theoretical, empirical and normative perspective the energy transition dynamics of Southern European regions, their institutional, technological and economic determinants, their economic and environmental impacts, and the policies needed for enabling these regions to forge their techno-industrial niches in the emerging value chains and to achieve green growth. The project will combine Schumpeterian, post-Keynesian and ecological economic theories under a ‘systemic’ research programme, and produce a cutting-edge formal model of a complex economic system embedded in the environment and undergoing energy transition. At the empirical level, it will employ advanced statistical and computational methods to test for the impacts of green technologies and to simulate alternative transition scenarios. At the normative level, it will frame the EU and national policy discourses on the European Industrial Strategy, Recovery Plan and Green Deal with evidence-based insights on industrial policy. The project is designed to boost the researcher’s career evolution and to consolidate his expertise and research skills through high-quality training.