The energy transition in Europe—a solution for net zero carbon?

Climate change has generated intense concerns from public authorities and international institutions with regard to shaping the behavior of companies, consumers, investors, and other stakeholders so as to manage this challenge as efficiently as possible. In order to address the climate emergency in the post-pandemic era, recovery plans need to trigger decarbonization, and a green transition, including specific investments and providing a more adaptive structure of the sources of energy in different regions, able to meet the need for a systemic shift towards a more sustainable economy that works for both people and the planet. The main measurable effect of energy production and consumption is by far represented by carbon emissions. In the present paper, we aim to identify the statistical significance of several factors influencing the carbon dioxide emission per capita in the European countries—level of economic development, level of globalization, trade openness, and the intensity of energy transition measured by the share of renewable energy in total energy consumption. The results show an increased interest of the experts in energy consumption model shift through green energy increased share, with relatively high differences among the 42 European countries analyzed. The analysis was conducted for the period 1990–2018 and policy differences depending on variables (GDP/capita, globalization index, trade openness, and renewable energy share in total energy consumption) were identified. The results showed that the carbon dioxide emission per capita evaluation designed model is representative of the European countries. The fact that the targets set by European non-EU member states for reducing CO2 emissions are lower than for the EU is influencing the dynamics of the energy transition, with implications for the size and destination of funds to finance the development of renewable energy.