A Qualitative Assessment of EU Energy Policy Interactions

Abstract

The aim of this article is the presentation of the Energy and Climate Policy Interactions decision support tool for assessing qualitatively ex-ante combinations of various energy and climate policy instruments. This tool integrates six methodological steps, wherein a policymaker can intervene and set preferences that affect the outcome of policy interactions. The advantage of this approach is that it demonstrates to some extent the qualitative effects of interacting policy instruments, depending on the current policy goals and preferences of users.

Keywords:

• climate policy
• energy policy
• feed in tariffs
• green certificates
• policy instruments

Notes

¹To this respect, Gunningham and Gabrosky (1998) quoted by the INTERACT project (Sorrell, 2003), developed a set of design principles for interacting policies: a) preference to policy mixes incorporating a broader range of instruments and institutions, b) preference to less coercive measures where deemed viable, c) ascend an instrument pyramid to the extent necessary to achieve policy objectives, d) introduction of instrument sequencing.

²The IEA provides an extensive country wise database on policy instruments for energy efficiency improvement, renewable energy, and climate change (see http://www.iea.org/textbase/pamsdb/search.aspx?mode=ee, http://www.iea.org/textbase/pamsdb/grindex.aspx, http://www.iea.org/textbase/envissu/pamsdb/index.html, respectively).

³The complete database of policy instruments and all relevant reports can be found in the ECPI webpage, http://www.rug.nl/edrec, under Research.

⁴An important clarification is that design characteristics and areas of PI are practically the same, but we distinguish them in the tool since they belong to different processes. Design characteristics refer to parameters of individual policy instruments, while areas of PI refer to shared characteristics of combined policy instruments.

⁵Examples of complementarities and overlaps of design characteristics are present in the tool's reports.

⁶An important note is that a positive or negative effect does not always mean an increase of a positive or negative value of the criterion (see Oikonomou and Jepma, 2006).