Abstract
Reducing energy consumption and improving energy efficiency are particularly important for mitigating climate change. The main motives for saving energy and improving energy efficiency are economic and environmental. It is also necessary to implement the environmental policy. Thus, this paper aims to analyse attitudes towards ecological policy and the impact of economic and environmental factors on energy consumption and energy efficiency behaviours in European Union (EU) countries in 2022. The analysis showed that environmental factors motivated people to reduce energy consumption more in rich EU countries, while economic factors were stronger in less wealthy countries. However, the level of economic development insignificantly influenced energy consumption and efficiency behaviours. The main positive determinants of energy efficiency behaviour were environmental attitudes, confidence in personal energy reduction, willingness to pay more to speed up the green transition, and attitudes toward environmental promotion policy. Meanwhile, the seriousness of the energy price problem and attitudes towards the ban and fee policy negatively influenced this behaviour. All analysed factors, except the attitudes toward environmental promotion policy, significantly and positively determined the energy consumption behaviour. Thus, promoting energy consumption reduction is very difficult.
Krikštolaitis, R.; Liobikienė, G. 2026. The Impact of Economic and Environmental Aspects on Energy Consumption and Energy Efficiency Behaviour in European Union Countries, Considering the Attitudes Towards Environmental Policies. Energies : MDPI. ISSN 1996-1073. eISSN 1996-1073. 19, 4, 869, p. 1–18. DOI: 10.3390/en19040869. [Scopus; Science Citation Index Expanded (Web of Science)].