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| 1 |
ID:
176749
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| Summary/Abstract |
The current transformation of energy systems around the world is fundamentally a policy-driven process, unlike previous socio-technical transitions. This article focuses on the challenges of constructing forward-looking policies for sustainable energy transitions in the presence of powerful incumbent interests, through an in-depth study of how the emerging option of demand-side response (DSR) was incorporated into the Capacity Market (CM) for electricity in Great Britain over the period 2010 to 2014. Drawing on extensive documentation related to the development of the CM rules and interviews with participants and close observers of the process, the paper provides an unusually detailed assessment of the influence of companies with large electricity generation assets. The evidence presented supports the hypotheses that these companies had influence through deploying public facing strategies, that they had been able to draw on close networks of contacts and networks with senior policy makers, and that the latter had internalised the ideas and interests of the former. Despite counter-lobbying by DSR firms and non-governmental organisations, institutional arrangements gave major generators an advantage in terms of access. The paper concludes by recommending the establishment of independent bodies to propose policies and monitor the process of their development during energy system transformations.
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| 2 |
ID:
138283
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| Summary/Abstract |
Eight years after the launch of the Stern Review of the economics of climate change, a new major report on economic growth and climate change (Better Growth, Better Climate) has been published by a Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, chaired by Nicholas Stern. While this comprehensive review of recent evidence has some overlap with the original Stern Review, it focuses more on the short-term costs and benefits of action needed to reduce carbon emissions in specific parts of the economy such as cities, energy and agriculture. Perhaps the most noted conclusion of the report is that policies which governments should be pursuing anyway, because they will reduce pollution, improve health, raise productivity and reduce congestion, will cut carbon emission by between 50 and 90 per cent of what is needed to get to a 2°C pathway. This is an important report that will have considerable influence, although it has had lower public visibility than the original Stern Review. However, it also points to the need for a better understanding of the politics of climate policy, and why the opportunities to adopt policies that have multiple long-term public benefits do not get taken. While Better Growth, Better Climatedoes have a chapter on the political economy of change, the analysis is limited, and could be deepened by bringing in the growing literature on the politics of climate policy.
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| 3 |
ID:
150060
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| Summary/Abstract |
There is a long-standing debate over price vs. quantity approaches to supporting the deployment of renewable electricity technologies. In the context of a recent shift from quantity to price-based support, the UK has also introduced a new form of budgetary framework, the Levy Control Framework (LCF). The introduction of the LCF has been very important for investors but has received relatively little attention in the academic literature. The paper gives an overview of the LCF, explores its effects on renewables policy, on consumers and on investor confidence arguing that an unintended consequence of its introduction has been to increase uncertainty, through interactions with underlying support mechanisms. A number of problems with the current scope and design of the LCF are noted. It is argued that the LCF is best understood as aimed at avoiding a political backlash against renewable support policy in a context where the benefits of such policy are concentrated economically and socially. The paper concludes by placing the LCF within a wider context of a shift towards greater budgetary control over renewable energy support policy across European countries.
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