This second and fully revised edition brings together some of the most influential work on the theory and practice of contemporary EU environmental policy. Comprising five comprehensive parts, it includes in-depth case studies of contemporary policy issues such as climate change, genetically modified organisms and trans-Atlantic relations, as well as an assessment of how well the EU is responding to new challenges such as enlargement, environmental policy integration and sustainability. The book's aim is to look forward and ask whether the EU is prepared or even able to respond to the 'new' governance challenges posed by the perceived need to use 'new' policy instruments and processes to 'mainstream' environmental thinking in all EU policy sectors.
This book is a guide for understanding the EU renewable energy policy as one of the most ambitious attempts world-wide to facilitate a transition towards more sustainable energy systems. It contains key case studies for understanding how member states have shaped the EU renewable energy policy, how the EU has affected the policies of its member states and how renewable energy policies have diffused horizontally. An analysis of the external dimension of the EU renewable energy policy is also included.
The discussion about energy perspectives beyond 2020, up to 2030 and eventually 2050 has started. There seems to be a verbal consensus on the necessity of ambitious climate change mitigation policies, without a convincing perspective of the necessary policy decisions to be reached in due time. Methods to achieve greenhouse gas reduction as well as energy security vary from aiming for 100% renewable energies and setting up appropriate policy frameworks to implementing a mix of renewables comprising so-called clean fossil and nuclear energy. This book provides an analysis of the different approaches and the reasons why there is no sustainable alternative to aiming for 100% renewables – and how this vision could come true. The book provides an overview and in-depth analysis of a vital debate. It describes how the present policy framework with 2020-targets for the share of renewables, for increase of energy efficiency and for greenhouse gas emissions reduction was developed and how it has been implemented so far. Furthermore, it describes and analyses the emerging debate about the future of our energy system and the necessary next steps and targets leading up to 2030.
In the context of multiple crises, EU Energy and Climate policy is often identied as one of the few areas still exhibiting strong integration dynamics. However, this domain is not exempt from contestation and re-nationalization pressures. This collection seeks to understand those contradictory integration and disintegration tendencies by problematizing the notion of authority: When, why, and by whom is EU authority in Energy and Climate policy conferred and contested? What strategies are used to manage authority conflicts and to what effect? These questions are examined in some of the knottiest aspects of EU energy and climate policy, for example, the adoption of the landmark Governance of the Energy Union Regulation, the long-drawn-out attempts to complete the EU’s internal energy market, the struggle to achieve ambitious EU targets in renewable energy and energy efficiency beyond 2020, the blurring of economic and security instruments in external energy policy, or the heated discussions over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.
'This book analyses a highly important topic. It is based on a comprehensive and empirically rich assessment of European energy policy, including both internal and external determinants. Its encompassing approach and the thoughtful combination of different analytical perspectives makes the book an important and fresh contribution to the field.' Christoph Knill, University of Konstanz, Germany 'Energy was one of the founding pillars of European integration, while environmental concerns have become an identity sign of today's European Union energy policy. However, notwithstanding the obvious links between both issues, little attention has been devoted to the complex relationship between the EU's environmental performance and the Europeanization of its energy policy. This book, carefully edited by Morata and Solorio, has come to fill this gap becoming a "must" to understand the interactions between these two fundamental drivers of EU policies.' José María Marín-Quemada, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, and Member of the Governing Council of the Spanish Central Bank, Spain This path-breaking book explores the new European energy policy, highlighting the significance of environmental policy concerns, instruments, and objectives vis-à-vis competing security and market dimensions in order to achieve an all-embracing EU energy policy perspective for the future. While the past years have witnessed unprecedented development of EU energy policy, the understanding of this process has lagged behind. Alongside the scarce literature on this emergent policy, there is also a gap regarding the attention paid to its different components. The study stems from the perception of a mismatch between the valuable debate that certain dimensions of energy policy namely, energy security and the market and competition framework have triggered and the neglect of its environmental and climate change dimensions. European Energy Policy will prove to be insightful for academics and postgraduate students interested in European integration, political science, international relations, public policy and environmental science. Energy stakeholders and governmental policymakers will also find plenty of invaluable information in this enriching resource.
The EU has been the region of the world where the most climate policies have been implemented, and where practical policy experimentation in the field of the environment and climate change has been taking place at a rapid pace over the last twenty-five years. This has led to considerable success in reducing pollution, decoupling emissions from economic growth and fostering global technological leadership. The objective of the book is to explain the EU's climate policies in an accessible way, to demonstrate the step-by-step approach that has been used to develop these policies, and the ways in which they have been tested and further improved in the light of experience. The book shows that there is no single policy instrument that can bring down greenhouse gas emissions, but the challenge has been to put a jigsaw of policy instruments together that is coherent, delivers emissions reductions, and is cost-effective. The book differs from existing books by the fact it covers the EU's emissions trading system, the energy sector and other economic sectors, including their development in the context of international climate policy. Set against the backdrop of the 2015 UN Climate Change conference in Paris, this accessible book will be of great relevance to students, scholars and policy makers alike.
This book examines the coordination of renewable energy policies in the European Union using an innovative theoretical approach to explain national policy making. David Jacobs asks, why are national support instruments for electricity from renewable energy sources converging, even though the harmonisation of these frameworks at the European level has failed? Which causal mechanisms lead to cross-national policy similarities? And what are the implications for policy coordination in the EU? The author traces the evolution of feed-in tariffs - the most successful and most widely used support mechanism for renewable electricity - in Germany, Spain and France. He reveals increasing cross-national policy similarities in feed-in tariff design - despite the failure of harmonizing instruments at the European level. He explains these increasing policy similarities by applying policy convergence theory. Policy convergence can occur voluntarily, based on transnational communication, regulatory competition and technological innovations and these findings have important implications for European policy steering. The key to this book is the interrelation of an innovative theoretical concept (coordination of policies in the international arena via voluntary cooperation) with a very topical empirical research focus - the promotion of renewable energies in the EU. It will be essential reading for scholars and students of environmental policy, comparative politics and European studies.
From evaluating policy delivery on wind farms in Texas in the US, to developing nuclear power in the Middle East, this book presents fresh thinking on key concepts and ideas on energy law and policy delivery. The contributors write from a range of perspectives, including the sciences, law, politics, economics and engineering.
This book examines the development of a European environmental conscience through successive steps of European integration in energy policy. In the 1960s-70s, the world was slowly beginning to realise that environment degradation was not sustainable. With phenomena such as acid rain, it became clear that pollution did not stop at national boundaries and the European environmental conscience developed in parallel to such growing environmental concerns. The oil crisis in 1973 was a turning point in the integration process for both energy policy and environment policy, and while further integration towards the European energy policy failed; the environmental policies took shape in measures such as energy saving. The Commission incorporated both energy and environmental policies into the EU policy canon and built an institutional framework, responding to the insufficiency of national policy answers and the developing environmental conscience of the European people. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of European Integration, European Union politics and history and environmental politics and policy.
This title not only provides an in-depth analysis of the recent development of EU climate and energy policy from the climate and energy package for 2020 to the climate and energy policy framework for 2030, it is also noteworthy for its skilful and innovative combination of EU and member state level analysis across a full policy cycle covering policy initiation, decision-making, implementation and policy reform.
