energies Article Analysis of the EU-27 Countries Energy Markets Integration in Terms of the Sustainable Development SDG7 Implementation Aurelia Rybak 1, *, Aleksandra Rybak 2 and Spas D. Kolev 3   Citation: Rybak, A.; Rybak, A.; Kolev, S.D. Analysis of the EU-27 Countries Energy Markets Integration in Terms of the Sustainable Development SDG7 Implementation. Energies 2021, 14, 7079. https:// doi.org/10.3390/en14217079 Academic Editors: Sergey Zhironkin and Michal Cehlar Received: 1 October 2021 Accepted: 22 October 2021 Published: 29 October 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Department of Electrical Engineering and Industrial Automation, Faculty of Mining, Safety Engineering and Industrial Automation, Silesian University of Technology, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland 2 Department of Physical Chemistry and Technology of Polymers, Faculty of Chemistry, Silesian University of Technology, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland; aleksandra.rybak@polsl.pl 3 School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia; s.kolev@unimelb.edu.au * Correspondence: aurelia.rybak@polsl.pl Abstract: The article presents the results of research related to the SDG7 sustainable development implementation analysis. The goal is to provide affordable and clean energy. Its implementation will allow for development that will simultaneously provide the possibility of economic growth and the achievement of an optimal level of citizens’ health and life. The research was conducted for the countries of the European Union EU-27. During the analysis, the indicators proposed by Eurostat were used. The research aimed to examine the progress in EU member states’ energy markets integration. In order to carry out the indispensable research, it was necessary to use a spatial information system. Cluster analysis, as well as TSA analysis, were applied. The conducted research made it possible to verify the posed hypotheses and showed that the energy transformation process of the EU-27 countries is so complicated and heterogeneous that it has given rise to new independent and unique clusters. The authors also verified the adopted set of SDG7 achievement indicators using multiple regression. Additional indicators were also proposed that could complement the set and clarify its analyses. Keywords: energy cluster; sustainable development; GIS; affordable and clean energy; multiple regression 1. Introduction The idea of sustainable development arose due to concerns about the condition of the Earth’s ecosystem, which was threatened by human activity. Economic growth had a negative impact on the natural environment, so it became necessary to strike a balance between economic development and care for the natural environment. The article focuses on the seventh goal (SDG7), i.e., affordable and clean energy. The degree of SDG7 implementation was presented in the Sustainable Development Report 2021 [1]. The progress has been recognized as on track or maintaining SDG achievement, for example in Iceland, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Norway. In the case of the European Union, only a few member states have succeeded in this area, such as Finland, Denmark, Bulgaria, Portugal, and Sweden. For each of the goals, Eurostat has assigned indicators that make it possible to assess the degree of their implementation. Eurostat has adopted a set of indicators to monitor and verify the progress of individual EU countries towards the SDG7. These indicators are: • Primary energy consumption • Final energy consumption • Final energy consumption in households per capita • Energy productivity • Share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption by sector • Energy import dependency by products Energies 2021, 14, 7079. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14217079 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies