ECONOMIC AND GEOPOLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY INVESTMENT STRATEGIES IN CHINA, THE EU, AND THE UNITED STATES

Abstract

This article examines how renewable energy investment strategies in China, the European Union, and the United States are reshaping global economic relations and accelerating a reconfiguration of geopolitical power. Drawing on literature in energy geopolitics, international political economy, and global value chain theory, the study shows that the energy transition has shifted strategic competition away from fossil-fuel resources toward technologies, standards, and critical minerals. China’s dominance in manufacturing and mineral processing, the EU’s regulatory and institutional leadership, and the U.S. emphasis on innovation and industrial policy create distinct but interdependent foundations of power. To explain the structural dynamics emerging from their interaction, the article introduces the Triangular Strategic Reconfiguration Model (TSRM), which conceptualizes how these three actors continually shape one another’s strategies and, in turn, reorganize global supply chains, investment flows, and governance structures. The findings demonstrate that renewable energy is generating new forms of interdependence under tension, with significant implications for countries outside the strategic triangle and for the future architecture of global energy governance.