Geopolitics, Climate Change and Energy Governance: A Grey Area in the Black Sea Region

Abstract

The Black Sea region is diverse, not entirely autonomous and geopolitically tense; however it produces, or transports across its area, significant fossil fuels to the EU market and further afield. The twelve countries of the area which form the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) have recently adopted Declarations which target climate change, green economy and renewable energy. The EU has long been operating in the region due to its strategic importance, primarily in the areas of energy, environment and governance; although direct programme success has been limited. The chapter focusses on the question: can a route be devised which uses the strengths of each organisation and effectively aligns both BSEC and EU to a regionalised approach to renewable energy (RE) development? The chapter considers the historical developments in the region by these regional players as well as the benefits and constraints of a regional renewable energy approach. The McKinsey 7S model is used to compare BSEC and EU in their RE approaches which demonstrates significant differences of intention, strategy, operation and capacity to implement. Based on these institutional differences, a third approach is developed in which these two organisations could work together based on their institutional strengths for RE regionalisation.