Sustainable energy transition, knowledge co-creation and trade: the case of EU residential energy efficiency

The European Union (EU) sustainable energy transition requires radical changes of economic, technological, societal and political systems. This paper empirically investigates the relationships among environmental policy, innovation and technological capabilities, and economic performances, in terms of country export competitiveness, focusing on residential energy efficiency goods, a core pillar of the EU energy and climate strategy. We combine network analysis with a gravity model to investigate the evolution of the EU bilateral trade and co-patenting activities from 1990 to 2015, based on a panel of 19 European countries. Our results show that the technological skills of the exporting country, related to the production of the households’ energy-consuming appliances, strongly enhance its export performances, and this effect is stronger when countries are EU members. Cooperation in knowledge creation and institutional proximities between trade partners are further key determinants of export performances of analysed countries.