Global interdependence in clean energy transitions

Abstract

The global energy industry is transforming as governments invest in clean energy technologies to address climate change, enhance energy security, and strengthen national competitiveness. Comparative research on clean energy transitions highlights the domestic drivers and constraints of clean energy transitions. This article contends that we need to understand the effects of global interdependence on clean energy transitions. Shifts in forms of interdependence between firms-influenced by the rise of global supply chains-have new implications for policy choices made by governments. Governments face more complex demands from domestic industries facing global economic competition, and act strategically in response to the actions of other governments, including sub-national actors, and firms in the global economy. We suggest that research on interdependence in clean energy transitions benefits from an analytical focus on mechanisms of transnational change such as cross-national and multi-level policy feedback and crossnational policy sequencing. Global interdependence has important implications for economic and environmental outcomes, affecting the durability of competitive advantage, and influencing the pace of the diffusion of clean energy technologies. the anonymous reviewers, and the editors for helpful comments. We are grateful for research assistance by Nicholas Goedeking. Politics 2018; 20(4): 467-491 Business and

Place-dependence of renewable energy technologies

“…Second, the uneven distribution of knowledge across countries also points to the importance of global knowledge networks in tapping into knowledge developed elsewhere (Bergek et al, 2015;Binz and Truffer, 2017;Coenen et al, 2012;Hansen and Coenen, 2015;Markard et al, 2015;Meckling and Hughes, 2018). For example, Binz et al (2014) analysed how actors in the TIS of membrane bioreactor technology are connected through knowledge networks at the global scale.…”

“…Since many countries intend to build innovation systems to better deploy renewable energy technologies at home, insights into how to mobilize resources from different sources are crucial for overcoming the difficulties associated with this complexity. The emergence of global supply chains of renewable energy technologies offers opportunities for latecomer countries to start from the less complex segments of the supply chains and move to core segments through learning-by-doing (Malhotra et al, 2019;Meckling and Hughes, 2018). Furthermore, the role of scientific knowledge and government funded research have become increasingly important in the development of renewable energy technologies (Popp, 2017(Popp, , 2016.…”

“…Second, for middle-and lowincome countries, the domestic market for renewables of a country helps better utilize global knowledge. This has implications for the catching-up strategy of latecomer countries: Sustainability transitions open new opportunities for latecomer countries to catch up by engaging with the global innovation systems of clean energy technologies (Mathews, 2013;Meckling and Hughes, 2018;Perez, 2016) and the creation of domestic markets can help latecomer countries to seize these opportunities (Binz et al, 2017a;Yap and Truffer, 2019).…”

“…The increasing global interdependence of energy transitions allows countries to obtain resources like knowledge, market access and finance from other countries in their development of clean energy technologies (Meckling and Hughes, 2018). However, the understanding of place-specificity in developing clean energy technologies is crucial for formulating better policies and transition pathways for individual countries and for facilitating future technology development (Hansen and Coenen, 2015).…”

“…The innovation performances of countries in clean energy technologies are shaped by their unique history, their existing knowledge base as well as by a broader set of institutional and geographical conditions (Hansen and Coenen, 2015). Thus, countries contribute differently to the rapid cost reduction in clean energy technologies in different stages of the technology life-cycle (Kavlak et al, 2018;Meckling and Hughes, 2018;Nemet, 2019).…”