Rethinking the diffusion of renewable energy policies: A global assessment of feed-in tariffs and renewable portfolio standards

Abstract

This article examines the global diffusion of two dominant renewable energy policies: feed-in tariffs (FIT) and renewable portfolio standards (RPS). It focuses on four mechanisms of policy diffusion: emulation, suasion, learning and competition. The findings of quantitative methods (logistic regression models and event history analysis) show strong support for emulation mechanisms in the diffusion of FIT and RPS. In the diffusion of FIT and RPS there is some support for learning and suasion. There is a robust finding of support that the competition mechanism does not explain diffusion of RPS and FIT.