Abstract
This paper uses both quantitative and qualitative analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of government policy and support mechanisms in the UK, Sweden, Denmark and Finland in promoting bioenergy – a key technology fundamental to each country's decarbonisation strategies. It is crucial that countries develop effective policies and support mechanisms to grow sustainable bioenergy sectors. This paper analyses the success of bioenergy policies within each country and evaluates the importance of wider independent variables that collectively characterise the background to energy sector, economic and environmental dynamics. Statistical correlation and regression analyses are applied to identify if the policy landscape has had an identifiable impact on actual bioenergy development. Furthermore, the outputs from a stakeholder workshop and expert interviews are analysed to identify drivers and barriers to bioenergy. The result is a comprehensive analysis of the successes and challenges in bioenergy development, and possible lessons that can be drawn for future promotion of the sector. The research finds that the UK and Nordic countries have had different yet equally successful approaches to promoting bio-power and bio-heat respectively. However, the influence of wider factors within different countries is found to have a potentially greater collective impact on bioenergy than any single policy mechanism. Thus there is credence in learning lessons from what does and does not work in different countries, but countries also need to develop their own brands of policy interventions that suit their country's unique challenges.
Highlights
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the provision of energy ser vices are a fundamental contributor to global rising atmospheric GHG concentrations [1]
This paper focuses on analysing the successes and failures of renewable energy technology policy support mechanisms in the UK, Sweden, Denmark and Finland
We evaluated the extent to which trends in bioenergy heat and power generation may be attributed to the supportive policy landscape, in addition to evaluating the extent that wider country-specific factors may influence bioenergy
Summary
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the provision of energy ser vices are a fundamental contributor to global rising atmospheric GHG concentrations [1]. Initiating and sustaining the growth of any form renewable energy sector within a country is highly dependent on the design of support mechanisms framed within the en ergy policy landscape [4]. Within the EU the targets and commitments of the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive [5] (and the 2018 recast of the directive [6]) have provided a policy framework aimed at stimulating sustainable growth of the renewable energy sector, together with longer term political objectives such as the 2050 climate neutral economy target [7]. This research paper aims to evaluate the progress in devel opment of the bioenergy sectors in both the UK and Nordic countries, with particular emphasis on identifying lessons of success and failures between the countries, and opportunities for each country going forward and more widely for different countries around the world
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