Per Ove Eikeland

The Third Internal Energy Market Package: New Power Relations Among Member States, EU Institutions and Non-State Actors?

The article analyses the September 2007 European Commission proposal for a third internal energy policy package, agreed by the European Union in spring 2009. Compared to legislation from 2003, the proposal reflects greater will on the part of the Commission to pressure unwilling Member State governments, and shifts in Commission leverage vis-a-vis Member States as well as a shift in policy networks with clout in EU policy-making. This shift in Commission leverage would indicate stronger supranational governance in EU energy matters in the future.

Public Sector Reform and Governance for Adaptation: Implications of New Public Management for Adaptive Capacity in Mexico and Norway

Although many governments are assuming the responsibility of initiating adaptation policy in relation to climate change, the compatibility of “governance-for-adaptation” with the current paradigms of public administration has generally been overlooked. Over the last several decades, countries around the globe have embraced variants of the philosophy of administration broadly called “New Public Management” (NPM) in an effort to improve administrative efficiencies and the provision of public services. Using evidence from a case study of reforms in the building sector in Norway, and a case study of water and flood risk management in central Mexico, we analyze the implications of the adoption of the tenets of NPM for adaptive capacity. Our cases illustrate that some of the key attributes associated with governance for adaptation—namely, technical and financial capacities; institutional memory, learning and knowledge; and participation and accountability—have been eroded by NPM reforms. Despite improvements in specific operational tasks of the public sector in each case, we show that the success of NPM reforms presumes the existence of core elements of governance that have often been found lacking, including solid institutional frameworks and accountability. Our analysis illustrates the importance of considering both longer-term adaptive capacities and short-term efficiency goals in public sector administration reform.

EU Climate and Energy Policy: A Hesitant Supranational Turn?

This article examines the recent changes of three central EU climate and energy policies: the revised Emissions Trading Directive (ETS); the Renewables Directive (RES); and internal energy market (IEM) policy. An increasing transference of competence to EU level institutions, and hence “vertical integration,” has taken place, most clearly in the case of the ETS. The main reasons for the differing increase in vertical integration are, first, that more member states were dissatisfied with the pre-existing system in the case of the ETS than in the two other cases. Second, the European Commission and Parliament were comparatively more united in pushing for changes in the case of the ETS. And, third, although RES and IEM policies were influenced by regional energy security concerns, they were less structurally linked to and influenced by the global climate regime than the ETS.

Electricity market liberalisation and environmental performance: Norway and the UK

Abstract Environmental concern was not on the agenda when competitive reform was introduced into the Norwegian and UK electricity industries. After the reform in 1989, short-term environmental improvement has been recorded in the UK, primarily because natural gas has replaced coal-fired capacity on a massive scale. No real boost for renewable energy has yet occurred, however. In Norway, the most noticable short-term impact has been a halt in new large-scale hydro power project development of watercourses. The most comprehensive change has been a cognitive one – brought about by the creation of the free-market area in electricity between Norway and Sweden in 1996. A common exchange, Nordpool, has been established, in which also Finnish and Danish companies have become traders. The Norwegian hydro-based electricity system suddenly became integrated with thermal-based systems, relying on coal and nuclear power. The Norwegian environmental debate could no longer take place in isolation from those in the neighbouring countries. As to long-run environmental challenges, the new energy legislation in Norway and the UK direct the state (regulator), industry and consumers to share responsibility for finding effective solutions. The state has problems in fulfilling its environmental responsibility since it comes into conflict with other overriding duties. The industry has been given scant incentives, whereas consumers still have been relatively passive. As our Swedish example of ‘green labelling of electricity contracts’ shows, however, there are exciting new arrangements, pushed by environmentally concerned consumers, which may eventually have dramatic effects on the liberalised electricity supply industries, and push the market towards improved environmental performance.

Market diffusion of new renewable energy in Europe: explaining front-runner and laggard positions

In 1997, the European Union adopted the ambitious target of doubling the share of renewables in total primary energy consumption by 2010. However, by 2003 the EU was still recording low achievement levels, due largely to variation in the generosity and stability of member-state policies to support the diffusion of renewable energy. This article surveys national variation in the diffusion of renewable energy, linking this variation to the degree of ambition in governmental policies. After discussing what drives national policies, we conclude that policy ambitiousness reflects the degree to which salient national energy-related problems converge around renewable energy diffusion as a joint solution. Countries with ambitious renewable energy policies are found to have many unsolved national energy-related problems and an abundant primary renewable energy resource base that could be developed for solving these problems. Countries with less ambitious policies, on the other hand, have fewer salient national energy-related problems or a less abundant renewable energy resource base. Among energy-related problems, the lack of national energy security in combination with policy ambitions to assist new industrial activities emerges as a particularly forceful policy driver. A side-effect of the convergence of many national problems around renewable energy diffusion as solution is that strong advocacy coalitions can more readily be forged to lobby for generous and stable governmental renewable energy policies. Local-level factors will, however, condition the effect of central government policies. Countries that have ensured co-decision power for local communities and benefit-sharing rights in renewable energy development are more likely to see their ambitious national policies result in diffusion, in contrast to countries with policies that ignore demands at the local level. The UK and Spain, representing low- and high-diffusion countries, respectively, are here discussed as major cases, supported by evidence from other EU member countries.

US energy policy at a crossroads

New energy legislation — the Energy Policy Act of 1992 — passed Congress 5 October 1992 after a three-year process starting with the Bush administrations launching of a National Energy Strategy (NES). The Act is fairly balanced as to treatment of the various energy industries. Compared to Bushs NES, however, it promotes alternative fuels and energy efficiency far more extensively. In this paper, we discuss how some important driving forces contributed in shaping the policy process and the final outcome, and how the development in these forces may also come to shape US energy policy in the future.