The 2015 EU Energy Union Package proposes integrating renewables into the market, just as the UK has moved away from Premium Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) for renewable electricity supply (RES-E) to something closer to the standard FiT, which, when auctioned, demonstrated a 3% real fall in the weighted average cost of capital (WACC). The UK, which has experimented with nearly all forms of RES-E support, offers the evidence base for designing the Energy Union’s RES-E support. Innovation needs a further redesign to deliver adequate funding, best done through country contributions to an EU-wide innovation competition.
This 5th edition of the Global Green Economy Index (GGEI) is a data-driven analysis of how 80 countries perform in the global green economy, as well as how expert practitioners rank this performance. This new GGEI presents one such framework, offering an integrated performance assessment of climate change, the environment, efficiency sectors and investment to better understand where nations stand today and what they can improve on or leverage to do better in the future.
The performance index of the 2016 GGEI is defined by 32 underlying indicators and datasets, each contained within one of the four main dimensions of leadership & climate change, efficiency sectors, markets & investment and the environment.
This report provides an overview of the newest GGEI results from the 5th edition, as well as more detail on how GGEI's research and data can enrich the work of others in this space.
Energy efficiency policies play a key role in the transformation to a ‘green energy economy’. This article takes stock of the impacts of the existing energy efficiency policy instruments in Germany and reviews the energy, environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the country’s latest energy efficiency and climate strategies for the year 2020. The paper finds evidence supporting the findings of other studies that enhanced green energy policies will trigger tangible economic benefits in terms of GDP growth and new jobs even in the short term. Whereas policy makers have already acknowledged and implemented this conclusion in the case of renewable energies, this article shows that striving for more ambitious energy efficiency policies represents a similar win–win strategy, which should be exploited to a much larger extent.
In order to enhance energy efficiency as a pillar of transition to a green energy economy it is important to understand whether and under which conditions energy efficiency programs could have positive economic and social impacts. There are a growing number of studies on macroeconomic impacts of energy efficiency programs for various countries and regions. However, in Switzerland only few evaluations have been performed. The present study evaluates the impacts on GDP and employment of Geneva’s energy efficiency program portfolio éco21 which is operated by the local utility.
The term ‘Green Energy Economy’ (GEE) received increasing policy and scientific attention following the 2008–2009 global financial crisis, leading to the implementation of numerous ‘Green Growth’ economic stimulus packages that targeted low-carbon energy technologies. These initiatives were portrayed as key elements in the transition to a green economy, in which low-carbon energy systems would play a vital role. However, and setting aside conceptual variations, uncertainties and fragmented knowledge remain in the interplay between a green economy, low-carbon energy systems and governance. This research area raises various questions regarding the performance, implications and complexities of policies and strategies addressing GEE transitional pathways. In addition, achieving a GEE compatible with climate, social and economic goals is an enormous challenge for society, and goes beyond the technological domain. This special issue provides a series of articles that critically investigate these concerns from an interdisciplinary point of view, and provide relevant policy insights using a variety of analytical approaches.