Energy Policy, Energy Research, and Energy Politics: An Analytical Review of the Current Situation

Abstract

Energy policy is becoming a key aspect of the everyday worldwide agenda, and the decisions in this field are directly affecting many aspects, such as energy security, energy supply, and consumer final prices, as well as environmental aspects, among others, and will also affect conditions in the coming years with regard to aspects such as energy resource availability decay, climate change effects, or air contamination. During the last decades, many specific efforts in energy planning research have been carried out by different scientists around the world, but very few of their scientifically based conclusions and recommendations have been transferred into energy planning and energy policy. As a consequence, the energy availability and the environmental situation of the world are worsening; the objectives which aim to achieve a maximum of a 1.5 °C increase are far from being achieved, and many different regions are suffering energy supply disruptions and lack of accessible and secure energy access. This paper analyzes how current energy policy is based more on the direct influence of stakeholders, energy politics, and citizens’ beliefs or preferences than on a scientific approach. It also proposes a different approach that would combine scientific energy planning as a driver for stakeholders and the political decisions which are necessary to consider as soon as possible; this is the only possible way to ensure a sustainable future.

1. Introduction

Energy policy at both a local and a global scale is one of the most decisive aspects of everyday life for citizens, companies, and whole countries. Due to energy extraction, transformation, and consumption, the global environmental and climatic conditions, among others, are being modified, and the current decisions and their consequences also pose a risk for future generations. During the last 50 years, there has been extensive scientific research about everything directly or indirectly related to energy planning, including aspects such as the need to reduce the direct emissions of fossil fuels in order to tackle the climate change effects and reduce the increase in the average temperature of the earth. These efforts have increased, especially in the twenty-first century, but despite this, the ongoing situation is not optimistic. The whole world is suffering a decay in available energy resources (at least at low prices) and increasing environmental pollution, but the roadmap objectives to avoid the high impact of climate change are far from being achieved. As has been intensively reported in recent years by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in their 1.5 °C Special Report, humanity only has one decade to avoid a temperature increase higher than 1.5 °C, which will impact both humans and nature in an irreversible way and with serious consequences [1]. Nowadays, 80% of all final energy consumption is produced using fossil fuels [2], and therefore, the planet will suffer a high-temperature rise by the end of this century [1,3]. For wildlife, the situation is not better as the global wildlife population has fallen up to 60% in 40 years and one million species face an extinction risk. One of the key solutions is the vast implantation of Renewable Energy (RE) plants, on both the large and the small scales, but this is not an easy solution due to the huge required investment but also to the indirect impacts and barriers, such as an increase in required raw material mining, residue disposal or extensive land occupation. This land occupation has to be combined with protected areas to avoid species extinction; for example, in Europe, the European Union (EU) Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 (COM/2020/380) [4] proposes a larger EU intercountry network of protected areas, up to 30% of both the land and the sea, to create areas with very high biodiversity and climate value. Moreover, large-scale renewable energy plants, especially wind or PV, require extensive land occupation, and this is causing strong opposition from local citizens, environmentalists, and tourism associations, among others. As a consequence, the solution to the problem seems complex, and a multidisciplinary approach that would also involve a participative consensus is required [5].

In the end, the energy policy decisions, such as those taken in successive Conference of Parties (COP) [6] meetings, or controversial decisions, such as considering Natural Gas (NG) or Nuclear Energy (NE) as “green energies” in Europe [7] are proving that the decisions are mainly driven by personal and politic beliefs, stakeholders’ interests or geopolitical aspects. Actual energy policy strategies are not providing the required fast actions required to control and mitigate climate change and its effects and, consequently, the situation continues to worsen, and the energy access is becoming more expensive, not secure, and less accessible and is also causing catastrophic side effects, such as war conflicts or massive migrations, among others.

This paper reviews the recent developments in energy policy research, the related technological advances, and the current energy politics situation and proposes a scientific-based and participatory approach that would facilitate the energy transition process. The objective of the research is to analyze the existing developments in energy planning models and techniques and their state of the art for later study and to propose how they could be effectively integrated into energy politics both at a regional and international level. As a novelty in comparison with previous research about energy policy, all the scales (local, regional, and international) and actors are considered, and their roles are analyzed. As proved by different research, energy access is directly related to other critical sectors such as the food and water supply (the so-called energy–water–food nexus), and the energy problem and its related topics are analyzed as a whole. This paper analyzes how different researchers have developed alternative energy plans that aim to combine economic development and secure energy and to tackle climate change objectives and their effects and why their results and conclusions are not directly transferred to energy policy. There is a review of the state-of-the-art evidence showing that, in many cases, the gap between science and politics continues to increase. The objective of the research is to study the availability of the energy policy models at different scales and for different technologies and to analyze their current application in energy planning and, finally, to propose a roadmap to reduce the existing gap. Considering the results of the previous analysis, this research proposes a decision scheme in which, if the whole of society aims to develop a solution for the severe and increasing energy problem, only a science-based energy policy can provide the technical basis, but several non-technical aspects must be considered, such as the necessity of a participative approach or the study of the situation on different regional and economic scales [8].

Proposed Methodology

To carry out this paper, a “top to bottom” methodology was used. Due to the fast changes in the global energy situation, including both technical, regulatory, and political aspects, among others, the methodology can be applied by researchers in the field to update its main conclusions. In the present analysis, the global situation and regulation are analyzed to provide a view of the most recent international regulatory frameworks and energy situations. The last scientific analysis of the global and continental energy planning models is exposed, and their limitations are analyzed. In the next section, the most recent developments in national and regional energy planning are studied. After this, a brief review of the building and the specific technologies of the energy planning models are presented before an analysis of the state of the art of the participative and interdisciplinary energy planning. In the discussion section, this paper analyzes why the energy transition process requires the fast adoption of effective energy policies that, to be effective and avoid past mistakes, must include all these aspects and show that the current state of the art makes it possible provide a response to many of the existing energy and climate problems.

2. Energy Policy and Energy Planning: Current Situation

The current energy policy is driven by several aspects; the most important these are based on political, social, and stakeholder interests while, on the other hand, the scientific evidence and technologies are not always considered. As a consequence, this is causing a strong divergence of the objectives to achieve carbon neutrality, secure energy access, or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030 [9], among others.

During the last few years, extensive research on fossil fuels and their implications have been carried out, and at the same time, successive COP summits have been held since COP 3 in Kyoto, where the first large-scale climate change agreement was achieved. Later, all the successive COPs supposed a deception by many of the scientists in the field, and the last reports show that the current achievement of the objectives is quite far from the required pathway that would avoid a disaster in terms of climate change, the environmental impact, and their socio-economic consequences. Extensive research exists in the field of energy planning, as analyzed in this paper. Different tools such as EnergyPLAN [10] or LEAP [11] have been designed to study large-scale country energy plans in order to simulate or plan future energy scenarios and analyze their implications in many different aspects, such as the impact on the power grid system, the energy costs, or the social development, among others. Different scenarios have been studied for whole countries, such as Macedonia [12], Ireland [13], or Portugal [14], to analyze the energy system of a region using only local resources, such as in Latvia [15] or on isolated islands such as the Aland Islands [16]. These methodological approaches in the literature are used on an interregional scale, such as in southern Europe [17], or at a small scale (city-level) such as the research performed in the Ecuadorian city of Cuenca [18]. Only from an energy technology point of view are there recent research works for specific technologies such as transport, district heating, or combined heat and power. Therefore, the scientific community has developed and applied different energy simulations and planning tools that, combined with other research, results in fields such as power electronics, renewable energy devices, or storage systems, which can provide responses to some of the most important energy challenges

The electrification of the economy is one of the most studied solutions to ensure a clean energy transition, but this roadmap aiming for high electrification also requires critical planning and extensive research to be achieved. In the literature, different research studies have analyzed the feasibility of an almost 100% electrical economy and concluded that on-site renewable energy generation in each home is required to achieve the objectives while, in many regions, the renewable energy plans are focused on large-scale plants with high land occupation [19,20], proving the need to consider the scientific energy planning conclusions in the energy planning policies. The community living in the surrounding areas of large RE plants is facing problems such as land use competition, and this is creating a dichotomy between traditional uses, such as agricultural use or energy generation. The environmental impact on nearby protected areas, the wildlife security impact, or the increased wildfire risks is also critical, and many of these projects are being faced by environmentalists. Other aspects, such as the visual impact, which are more difficult to quantify from a quantitative point of view, can be important, and in some economic sectors, such as tourism or natural activities, the travel companies that expose the attractiveness of the region will decrease or even disappear. This example shows the complexity of the energy planning decision chain and the need to analyze not only the macro situation but also the micro, the local, and the economic aspects.

Several reports and research studies analyze the fact that for energy independency and secure supply the situation is critical and affecting many social and economic sectors. For example, the EU is facing the consequences of the energy policy of the last 20 years that focused on increasing the share of natural gas in the electricity mix [21]. As an example, central European countries, such as Germany, promoted the building of different transport infrastructures to transport NG from Russia without considering an energy source and energy supplier diversification. Nowadays, the current disruption of the Russian gas supply due to the war situation and the subsequent sanctions have endangered the energy supply and increased the final energy costs, and the whole of society is reacting. A literature review shows that different research studies were published aiming to plan a sustainable energy supply scheme, in central Europe or southern Europe for example, but that the adopted strategy and the planning were different. High external energy source dependency has caused citizens and companies to suffer a large surge in energy prices that is affecting the whole economy, and at the same time, many economic and social sectors question whether many of these decisions were taken under different stakeholder pressures and interests and did not consider a long-term vision. A similar situation has arisen for other energy sources, such as nuclear, because Europe’s nuclear fuel supply is dependent on countries such as Kazakhstan (45% world supply) [22] or Russia. The transition to clean energy generation faces decisive challenges, and the required measures affect the whole of society. Spain, one of the countries extensively promoting RE production, has accelerated the energy transition roadmap and all coal-fired plants were disconnected from the grid in the 2018–2020 period, and later, many of them were partially or totally dismantled. In 2022, electrical energy prices in the spot market surged from an average of 45 EUR/MWh up to 320 EUR/MWh [23], causing a large inflation increase [24] and challenging the whole economy, and different sectors are questioning the shut-off of the coal plants and facing protests for their decommissioning as they could provide a lower-cost energy supply. In recent years, the mines that provide locally extracted coal for power generation have been completely closed (only one small mine operates nowadays, and it is owned by a governmental organization) causing some regions of northern Spain to suffering a deep economic recession, and their population is decreasing. Despite the alert of experts in the field and the energy organisms, the Spanish government [25] has prohibited the mining activities for raw materials such as uranium and has also denied increasing the operating lifetime of currently operating nuclear plants, which could challenge energy security during the renewable energy transition period, and in peak hours, more natural gas will be required to the match demand. This situation is a great example of how the lack of an energy policy considering all the aspects as a whole is causing different social sectors, economic forces, or countries to ask for a lower-speed transition or to directly reduce the objectives. For example, some EU countries going back to coal plants or challenging the roadmaps aiming to reduce coal generation in the next few years. A review of the recent publications shows that local or state policies are key for success because they can affect the whole country’s roadmap for example, recent research that focuses on Boston [8] showed that the gaps in the regulatory frameworks, the infrastructure, and the funding delayed the clean energy market uptake.

3. Literature Review State of the Art of Energy Planning

To tackle the complex energy situation, it is urgent to adopt a science-based activity program that should start with the firm compliance of the most polluting countries with the COP agreements. The scientific community is seeing how at every COP summit their voices and reports are being ignored, and as a consequence, there is an increasing belief among scientists and researchers in the field that the researchers have committed the error of not being effective enough in communicating to the whole of society the destructive consequences of the future climate change and that fast action is required. This section analyzes the recent developments and the current state of the art in energy planning and energy policy research.

3.1. Energy Planning

This section analyzes the state of the art of energy planning at different scales and its implications in the successful energy transition.

3.1.1. Global Energy Planning

A literature review shows that many models and tools are available to perform global-scale energy planning modeling or analysis. Different organisms, such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) [26] or the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) [2] publish different scenarios for both energy supply and consumption tendencies and also provide a tracking of the ongoing developments and the objectives consecution [27]. Different publications have proved that, despite recent statements that have affirmed that 100% renewable energy is not possible [28,29], a fully energy-renewable driven planet is feasible [30,31,32]. Science-based analysis based on many different previous publications and studies analyze how a 100% renewable-based energy system is possible and can be also economically beneficial, but extensive research and investment is required for its achievement. A recent publication analyzes the fact that only solar and wind energy could match up to 90% of the demand worldwide, but many aspects need to be raised to effectively avoid hundreds of unmet demand hours [33]. All these studies and technological approaches describe how the transition process should be and the role that other energies such as nuclear or natural gas should play in the transition period. Some studies on natural gas energy policy analyze the required transition to achieve these objectives and how different organizations, governments, and stakeholders should act to achieve maximum benefit, including economic income [34]. Recent tracking of the development of the required policies shows that the objective is far from being achieved and that the climatic and energy objectives are further and further away every year from being achieved [27]. Moreover, the recent energy and geopolitical situation worldwide is slowing down the process and delaying or abandoning the objectives, putting at risk the whole of society in the coming years [35]. Technological and scientific development has enough tools to clearly track a roadmap that combines economic development and sustainable development, but almost none of their conclusions are being applied by international politics. Delaying the adoption of the required changes will only cause more severe consequences and put at risk energy access and energy security and will directly impact other critical sectors such as water supply, food supply, or home access, among others [5].

3.1.2. Continental Energy Planning

The global energy policy developments must be applied on a more continental scale and must aim to provide a combined response to worldwide requirements. Extensive research in this field has been carried out in recent years, aiming to propose how the global objectives can be applied at a smaller continental scale, such as, for example, in South and Central America [36] or southern Europe [17]. The lack of integrated energy policy for large regions, due to various geopolitical, social, and economic barriers, makes the adoption of these plans difficult, and in cases such as that of the European Union, there is a situation in which there exists a large internal discussion and lack of consensus on how to achieve the fixed objectives. There is a large moat between some countries that extensively rely on coal-fired plants, such as Poland, and other EU countries such as Spain that have closed their coal-fired plants and started a dismantling process. The renewable energy transition requires a transformation of the whole electrical transport system, including the distribution and transport power grid, and the objective will not be possible if interconnection between different countries is not reinforced. As a consequence, each country’s individual energy system vision must change from a “my country, my grid” strategy to a shared resource one. To achieve this a paradigm change is required as nowadays many neighboring countries use energy as an economic and political leverage tool and aim to obtain a maximum economic benefit in the energy markets.

3.1.3. Country Energy Policy

The literature review shows an extensive research activity to evaluate and develop country-focused energy transition scenarios that can be applied to many different situations, ranging from countries with large wind or solar resources to locations with high hydro potential. For example, particular case studies that develop a transition roadmap exist for European Countries such as Portugal or Latvia [14,15], Central and South America (Nicaragua) [37], or China [38], among others. These methodologies can be extended and adapted to any other country or region and provide a science-based scenario that also allows the analysis of the supply and energy disruption risks for a particular energy matrix and energy generation mix. Unfortunately, these scenarios and strategies are rarely translated to politicians, organizations, and stakeholders and subsequently to the country’s energy policy. As has been proved in different analyses, institutional and political decisions are key to achieving the desired renewable energy share and are rarely based on scientific-based approaches [39]. Many politicians and their respective parties have used energy as a confrontation in election processes and created a false disruption between sustainable development and economic development. In recent elections in the USA or European countries (Spain, Italy, or Germany), energy and economic growth have been part of the debate, and unfortunately, in most cases, false arguments from a scientific point of view are used. As a consequence, the general population receives a confusing message, and people tend to defend their preferred party’s arguments rather than the scientific-based ones. This is causing an increasing disruption among different parts of each country’s society, a discrediting of the energy research and energy planning, and serious consequences for the planet, people’s health, and also the economy. Different research publications analyze the consequences of the decisions of the political actors that use energy as a battle of ideas. For Ireland, detailed research analyzes why this country, which has one of the higher offshore wind potentials, has completely failed in the objective of massive offshore wind generation plant construction [40]. The analysis shows that the political support for offshore wind energy was a complete “battle of ideas” and that policy innovators can offer a new vision to tackle climate objectives. Grid policy is also one of the most important actors as the limitation of grid capacity and resilience is one of the most important barriers; so, a completely independent electricity regulator could provide a technical approach to ensure the match of both offshore energy entrepreneurs and politics. This research presents a detailed analysis of the causes of this energy transition failure, and its conclusions should be transferred to other cases to avoid similar scenarios.

3.1.4. Regional and Local Energy Policy

At a regional scale, energy planning is one of the most important factors that ensures equal and sustainable development combined with economic activity and adequate accomplishment of larger-scale (national and international) objectives. Some research teams have worked in recent years on the development of integrated models for energy management, energy generation, and energy optimization at a regional and local scale. Apart from general research topics, developments for the energy–water nexus have also been extensively studied [41], including the analysis of complex systems such as isolated islands that suffer from high energy requirements and low water availability [42]. Despite this, regional-scale energy planning is almost irrelevant in comparison with regional planning, and this causes a disruption in the energy transition implementation process and is a risk at the regional scale, such as, for example, the lack of grid development in locations with low population density and at the local scale. At the city scale, current policies are mainly focused on traffic reduction or supervision by, for example, delimiting restricted traffic access zones. Previous research has proposed many different approaches to ensure effective carbon-neutral cities, including the massive use of battery energy storage systems [43], district heating [44], or optimal photovoltaic (PV) massive deployment [45], but almost none of these systems have been considered in architectural designs or city planning. The lack of a global approach causes a negative impact on the energy transition but also an increased discredit among citizens that have the perception of an increased effort in their everyday life in contrast with other important actors, such as countries or companies that make no effort to tackle the energy crisis. Traffic restrictions, lack of sustainable transport infrastructures (such as secure bike lanes) or increasing public transport prices cause a general view that the clean energy transition is both an uncomfortable and an expensive process, while the situation, far from improving, is worsening every year.

3.1.5. Facilities and Buildings Energy Analysis

For the particular case of industrial, commercial, and residential buildings or facilities, among others, scientific research provides many different solutions to ensure a lower demand, higher energy efficiency, and, as far as possible, self-energy supply. Different studies and approaches have evaluated the benefits and the potential of using different renewable energy sources, storage systems, or homes and electrical vehicles integration systems, among others. The research activity in the field includes several analyses and plans that evaluate both the building envelope and the associated energy systems, aiming to propose a whole building analysis that can effectively be integrated into larger-scale models [46].

3.1.6. Technology Focused Energy Planning

To provide the required energy flows, it is necessary to tackle a complex multifactorial problem that includes a variety of energy generation and transformation systems. Novel technologies such as electric transport (electric vehicles, EVs), green hydrogen, fuel cells, distributed generation, or advanced district heating systems, among others, can provide the required technology to ensure energy supply, energy security, and effective decarbonization. The lack of integration of these systems from a global policy perspective is causing the strategic plans for their implementation to not be clearly defined and the objectives to not be achieved. For example, in the case of Spain, all the plans since 2000 to increase the use of EVs have failed, and the objectives have not been achieved. The causes are complex and multifactorial and include several different barriers such as lack of a recharging infrastructure, a complex tax system, the EVs’ limited operational range, expensive recharging tariffs, or the lack of low-cost vehicle offers, among others [47]. Some of these factors involve specific technology challenges but all are directly related to a lack of a technical approach that evaluates the development requirements as a whole and the feasibility of other alternatives, such as fuel cell-driven vehicles. In this case, political decisions have focused on promoting financial schemes or direct subsidies for EV purchasing without considering the problem as a whole, and as a consequence, the plans have failed year after year, and the objective numbers of operative EVs have not been achieved. In other fields, such as the definition of the optimal large-scale mix of wind and PV energy [48], the literature review shows that there are analyses and tools that can define the best solution for a particular location, but not considering all the involved factors is causing a delay in the deployment and an increasing social contest in many regions as, for example, land occupation conflicts with agricultural use or has a strong impact on the touristic potential of the region. In Spain, in the last few years, some regions, mainly those with a low population density, are suffering from a proliferation of large-scale PV plants that make agricultural land use impossible and deteriorate the landscape associated with tourism without creating new employment, and the social contest against the so-called “green transition” is increasing. At the same time, the country is not taking advantage of the high potential of PV building systems due to the lack of an integrated strategy [49] and a difficult bureaucratic process in both authorization and the commission of RE plants. There is a lack of a technical approach and an optimization plan that causes a large underutilization of this energy resource, while much of the scientific research in recent years has proposed city-scale PV development plans aiming to provide the best technical and economic solutions [45]. Recent research and literature publications propose a technical energy-planning approach to evaluate the potential of the different specific technologies available for many of them, such as, for example, large-scale integration of RE [48], the role of combined heat and power (CHP) in an efficient energy system [50], the potential of renewable heating [51], or the effective and secure high-scale RE integration in power grids without compromising their stability [52,53,54,55].

3.2. Participative and Interdisciplinary Energy Planning

Due to the complexity of the energy problem and its multidisciplinary implications, which include technical, economic, social, environmental, or geopolitical aspects, among others, it is not possible to define a correct and feasible roadmap without considering all the involved factors. The lack of a global consensus and the failure in the objectives consecution show that the current strategies are not correct and that a full turn is required. Several initiatives have been taken by different governments and regulatory agencies aiming to increase the participation of transversal actors in energy modeling and energy planning activities. In a green smart energy system, a complete change of paradigm for all of the actors is required, mainly due to the importance of distributed energy sources (DER) and their importance in the global energy mix. Some detailed studies have proved that this model has benefits to the consumers as it brings added value to the consumers and that a large part of the energy will be produced using indirect energy systems. The use of DERs implies that the citizens and consumers will own a large part of the energy systems and will subsequently participate in their operation and maintenance [56], and it is necessary to develop a participative and multidisciplinary energy planning and energy policy that involves both stakeholders, scientists, academics, politicians, and citizens. Recent publications show analyses of last year’s energy planning activities and show that there is a lack of democratization in energy planning and modeling [57] but also that multidisciplinary and integrated approaches are better in comparison with traditional unidirectional decision making [58].

4. Discussion

The energy transition needs to be accelerated if the consequences of climate change are to be reduced or at least tackled, but unfortunately, the current status of the energy transition is too far from the objectives [27]. As shown in the previous sections, the research on renewable energy systems, energy transition, green energy management, etc., has been extensive during the last few years, but very few of the conclusions have been transferred into energy planning and energy policies. Energy policy involves several different factors, although many of them are directly related. The situation regarding scientific beliefs in the general society has been influenced by the increase in social network relevance, political polarization, the economic situation, the COVID-19 crisis, and the energy and raw materials supply crisis, among others. Different research studies show that fake science news and false theories have become a great part of the science-related topics in mass media [59], and political actors usually rely on false statements as part of their activity [60]. This is causing the energy and climatic problems to often be presented and discussed under false premises, and many of the critical decisions taken in the field fail in the most basic aspects. The political polarization is worsening in both the international and the national scenarios and usually focuses on a battle of no ideas, where energy policy and climate change are used as one of the most important confrontation tools and each party’s voters and followers deeply follow these guidelines as part of their beliefs.

As shown in this study, it is necessary to use the existing tools to propose a paradigm change in energy planning and energy policy. Figure 1 depicts the current decision structure in contrast with the desired one, where the politicians, stakeholders, and other participants, such as citizens, outline an energy policy based on scientific evidence that will help achieve the mid- and long-term objectives, as shown in Figure 2.

To deal with the present and future challenges, energy policy makers should act synergically with the scientific sector to create a common scheme that, only after the participation of the whole of society and the actors, would be effective. Only with the whole consensus that considers all the involved actor’s points of view would it be possible to achieve the desired objectives and create an integrated approach (Figure 2).

Citizens are suffering from incremental bewilderment in the energy transition process as many of them see no sense in their efforts, and these efforts are quite different within social classes, countries, or even regions and cities. For example, in some European countries, the lack of commitment against climate change and to the associated efforts are becoming more important because these national citizens realize that the transition effort is not being equally supported by different countries and that some of the biggest emitters worldwide (for example China, India, or the USA) do not participle in the emissions reduction programs while EU-27 countries, with a share of about 17% of total emissions, are facing important restrictions, and everyday life requires changes to tackle the reduction objectives. With each COP version, the international population realizes that the lack of real compromise is a fact and that some associated issues such as economic impact, lobby group activities, or geopolitical aspects are more important in this climate conference than the pressing climatic and energetic problems. Many of the European regions associated with conventional energy mining, conversion, and production, such as the coal mining and coal plant regions (for example in Spain) have suffered a sudden closure of these industries, with a strong reduction in economic activity and without a real economical alternative that, theoretically, would be based on the renewable energy sector. The lack of clear information about the requirements is also one of the most prominent risks in tackling with challenges of a transition to a near-100% RE scenario. NG and NE must play a key role in this process and ensure a secure and stable transition, but instead of remarking on these aspects, society receives a confusing and contradictory message when in EU-27 these energy sources are labeled as “green energy” by the European Commission [7].

Many political parties and politicians present their beliefs about energy transition as some of their main identity factors and create a battle of ideas that often are based on no scientific evidence, or, if they are, these ideas are presented as one of the most representative aspects of the party and their followers, creating a false conflict between sustainable development and the economy. Stakeholders’ interests, lobbies, and international pressure factors challenge governments’ decisions, and the moat between the scientific evidence and the political decisions is increasing. The complexity increases if all the geopolitical aspects of energy supply, energy security, and energy profit are taken into consideration because energy supply, transformation, and use represent the most important economic drivers for many countries, and a transformation of the system will undoubtedly completely change the economic and geopolitical scenario worldwide.

Private companies and investors pressure the system based on their legitime economic interests, but simultaneously, some companies are sincerely worried about their activity’s consequences and promote a change in their manufacturing, consumption, and economic activity; greenwashing is also one important part of the whole scenario. Many studies analyze the fact that only an increase in stricter climate-related regulations and more laws related to climate change and energy transition ensures a reduction in these practices, and therefore, politicians again play a key role [61]. Finally, but not less importantly, scientists and academics have failed to clearly explain to all the involved actors the importance of the challenge and the strong consequences that the whole of humanity faces, and generally speaking, academic and research activity has been carried out independently from the economic and social reality, causing a disruption between science and everyday life and decisions. Research teams and technical organizations have developed extensive energy policy research studies and have planned and developed a vast range of technological solutions, but an effort is required to transfer the conclusions to all the involved actors.

5. Conclusions

Zero emissions energy transition and 100% RE generation are one of the most important tools to reduce the effects of climate change worldwide, but despite several reports and the evidence detailing the vast consequences for humanity by the end of this century, the advances are quite small in comparison with the required roadmap. The most important driver for change, energy planning, differs from the scientifically approached energy policy and energy transition research, and the situation is worsening as the time to act is shortening. The present review and analysis paper studies how several researchers, academics, and companies are developing different energy planning tools, scenario analysis, and technologies that could tackle the energy planning challenge and provide solutions that, as has been proved by several of these studies, could also be economically beneficial, in both the mid and the long term. Recent publications have analyzed the energy problem at the large and small scales, but the energy planning at the international, national, and local scales fails in transferring the scientific evidence to the energy policy. Geopolitical tensions, raw material supply chain disruption, and increasing international confrontation are difficult to understand in the context of such an important matter, especially as some of the most important actors see the energy transition as a process that will transform their status quo in the worldwide scenario. In this scenario, the general population is polarized due to several driving factors, one the most important of which is the lack of equal compromise of the international actors, the increasing energy costs, or the restrictions associated with a more sustainable energy supply, among others. To change this situation and the upcoming consequences, a strong effort must be made by all the involved actors to completely transform the energy planning into a science-based energy policy that needs to use a multidisciplinary approach as a core tool and which can be decided using a participative strategy where all the involved actors, including the general population, local citizens, and stakeholders could have a voice.