**5. Summary**

The focus of this article concerned the problem of the energy transformation of the EU countries, which is understood as the transition to an economy that produces and consumes largely energy from renewable sources. It was emphasized that the strategic goal of the EU's energy policy is the transition to a "green economy". According to the EU strategy, the activities carried out by 2050 are expected to lead to the improvement of the energy sector towards neutrality to the climate and the environment. Transforming the economies of the EU Member States into environmentally neutral economies requires huge effort in changing and adapting many governmental/institutional policies, business strategies, and consumer behavior. It is a grea<sup>t</sup> challenge for the EU to set up coordinated strategies at national and local levels to reduce energy consumption and waste to zero by 2050 and become the first climate-neutral continent. Even the short-term goals (2030) proposed in the EU strategy must be based on coordination within all four aspects: institutional, economic, environmental, and physical aspects. We performed our study at the regional level in terms of RE and energy transformation in several steps.

The PEST analysis to study the macro-environment of the Pomerania Voivodeship was performed first. The authors found that the policy in the field of RE at the Voivodeship level is not very conducive to the renewable energy sector. The RE Act [55] is quite often amended and this discourages potential investors; however, the Polish energy policy until 2040 offers an opportunity for the development of RE in the Pomerania Voivodeship. Despite the unfavorable institutional and demographics in the Pomerania Voivodeship, we evaluated the economic environment of RE in the Pomerania Voivodeship in the context of its development potential quite positively (3.56 out of 5). The PEST analysis showed that RE sector has a chance for further development in the Pomerania Voivodeship.

Next, the authors evaluated the physical potential of RE in the region. On the basis of the conducted analyses, it was found that the Pomerania Voivodeship offers very favorable conditions for wind energy and solar energy but does not have these conditions for "deep" geothermal energy (however, heat pumps can be used on a large scale here). We can conclude that the Pomerania Voivodeship displays all the necessary physical conditions for the production of energy from renewable sources.

Our goal was to examine the situation of the RE sector in the Pomerania region in the context of energy transformation. The Pomerania Voivodeship has an appropriate level of RE potential and may become an energy self-sufficient region. The estimated amount of RE electricity may also cover the Voivodeship's needs. The implementation of the goal allowed for the verification of this hypothesis, which confirms that all the EU's Member States' and regional governments' efforts are reasonable and the SDGs are achievable.

In summary, we can state that the calculated amount of electricity would cover fully the Voivodeship's electricity needs, and 53% of its heat needs. The vision in both the short- (2030) and long-term (2050) acts is to reach the level of 100% RE-based heating and cooling in Europe, which is achievable. The authors provide evidence at the level of one region (Pomeranian Voivodeship) that both EU strategies may be realistic and achievable under certain conditions. Thanks to the results obtained in one region, we know that there is significant potential to increase the RE share for the whole EU's heating and cooling sector and, at the same time, a higher refurbishment rate is also possible. Efficient and technologically smarter buildings should be the basis of Europe's decarbonization, but more effort, however, should be devoted towards renovating the current building stock. Reaching climate targets without decarbonizing them seems impossible. We conclude that, under certain conditions, and only with the EU, country-, and region-level institutional support, it will be possible to decarbonize EU building stock by 2050.

The obtained results indicate the necessity to extend the research of the energy sector in Poland to the entire territory of the country; then, SWOT analysis, PEST analysis, and analysis of the RE potential in terms of electricity and heat production can be performed. The conclusions drawn from the research would allow us to answer the questions of whether Poland is ready for the energy transformation based on the RE sources, which barriers should be overcome, what to pay attention to, and the opportunities and threats related to this process. The limitations of the research carried out in the article should also be emphasized. They are related to the differentiation of each region in Europe in terms of the analyzed conditions. The PEST analysis carried out and the GIS methods used constitute a universal tool for assessing the potential of the energy sector in the given region. However, it should be remembered that the analysis carried out must be based

on detailed knowledge of the above-mentioned aspects of the region, cooperation with an expert panel, and the authors' extensive scientific experience in the energy sector. It should also be emphasized that it is difficult to obtain data at such a low level of aggregation as the Voivodeship.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, B.I., K.F. and M.B.P.; methodology, B.I., K.F. and M.B.P.; software, M.S. and M.B.P.; validation, B.I., K.F., M.B.P., U.K., M.S., A.Z. and K.N.; formal analysis, B.I., M.S. and M.B.P.; investigation, B.I., K.F., M.B.P., U.K., M.S., A.Z. and K.N.; resources, B.I., K.F., M.B.P., U.K., M.S., A.Z. and K.N.; data curation, M.B.P. and B.I.; writing—original draft preparation B.I., K.F. and M.B.P.; writing—review and editing, B.I., K.F., M.B.P., U.K., M.S., A.Z. and K.N.; visualization, B.I., K.F., M.B.P. and M.S.; supervision, B.I. and M.B.P.; project administration, B.I. and M.B.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Data available on request due to restrictions. The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
