Friends or Foes? Political Synergy or Competition between Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy

Abstract

Energy efficiency measures and the deployment of renewable energy are commonly presented as two sides of the same coin—as necessary and synergistic measures to decarbonize energy systems and reach the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. Here, we quantitatively investigate the policies and performances of the EU Member States to see whether renewables and energy efficiency policies are politically synergistic or if they rather compete for political attention and resources. We find that Member States, especially the ones perceived as climate leaders, tend to prioritize renewables over energy efficiency in target setting. Further, almost every country performs well in either renewable energy or energy efficiency, but rarely performs well in both. We find no support for the assertion that the policies are synergistic, but some evidence that they compete. However, multi-linear regression models for performance show that performance, especially in energy efficiency, is also strongly associated with general economic growth cycles, and not only efficiency policy as such. We conclude that renewable energy and energy efficiency are not synergistic policies, and that there is some competition between them.

Systemic Risk Spillovers in the European Energy Sector

“…The pressing issue of finite resources and climate change has also generated a prominent body of literature. Many studies deal with sustainable or renewable energy from a multidisciplinary point of view [24,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. Another relevant strand of literature addresses energy policy matters [31][32][33][34][35], incorporating aspects related to innovation and development in the energy sector [36][37][38][39][40].…”

The European 2030 climate and energy package: do domestic strategy adaptations precede EU policy change?

“…The policy design element "objectives" describes the specific requirements that are operationalized into formal policy (Cashore & Howlett, 2007). Previous research has shown that states pursue different objectives regarding their technological approach to decarbonization (Komor & Bazilian, 2005;Ollier et al, 2020;Patt et al, 2019). For the energy sector, three broad strategies for decarbonization are available: (i) reconfiguration of the existing system and a transition to lower-carbon options (e.g., modernizing coal power plants, transitioning from coal to gas power, nuclear energy, or carbon capture and storage) in a technology-neutral approach, (ii) deployment of renewables, and (iii) the reduction of demand, and therefore consumption, through energy-efficiency measures (IPCC, 2018).…”

Does Renewable Energy Renew the Endeavor in Energy Efficiency?

“…Not surprisingly, these two types of initiatives have been discussed together, and their interactions have been studied. While synergies were not found in certain policy settings (Ollier et al 2020), there may still be advantages to corporations (Prindle et al 2007). Households may similarly face conflicting effects depending on the setting (Dato 2018).…”

“…While there is prior work on the relationship between RE and EE (see detailed review in Section 2), it has largely been cross-sectional and focused at the household (Dato 2018) or the macroeconomic level (Ollier et al 2020). The former is based on household survey data that does not capture investment decisions, and the latter uses variations across countries to estimate the relationship, which is too broad to yield actionable insight.…”