Can the Green Economy deliver it all? Experiences of renewable energy policies with socio-economic objectives. (1st October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pahle, Michael; Pachauri, Shonali; Steinbacher, Karoline
• Is Part Of: Applied energy. Volume 179(2016)
• Page Start: 1331
• Page End: 1341
• Publication Date: 2016-10-01
• Subjects: Green economy -- Renewable policies -- Socio-economic objectives; Power (Mechanics) -- Periodicals; Energy conservation -- Periodicals; Energy conversion -- Periodicals; 621.042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.06.073
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-2619

Abstract

Highlights: Open question if renewables achieve both environmental and socioeconomic objectives. Two policies each assessed looking at energy access and employment respectively. Important role of governments and need for monitoring capacity is confirmed. Short-term socioeconomic benefits realized in two cases, but they may not sustain. Cases underline need for methodologies to better assess multiple-objective policies. Abstract: The Green Economy (GE) paradigm aims to reconcile environmental and socio-economic objectives. Policies to deploy renewable energy (RE) are widely perceived as a way to tap the potential synergies of these objectives. It is, however, still largely unclear whether the potential of simultaneously achieving both environmental and socio-economic objectives can be fully realized, and whether and how multiple objectives influence policy design, implementation, and evaluation. We aim to contribute to this aspect of GE research by looking at selected country experiences of renewable energy deployment with respect to the socio-economic goals of job creation or energy access. Across the cases examined, we find the following implications of relevance for the GE framework: First, we confirm the important role of governmental action for GE, with the specific need to state objectives clearly and build monitoring capacity. Second, consistent with the "strong" green growth variant of GE, some of the cases suggest that while renewable deployment may indeed lead to short-term socio-economic benefits, these benefits may not last. Third, we underline the urgent need for new methodologies to analyze and better understand multiple-objective policies, which are at the heart of the GE paradigm.