The politics of measurement and the case of energy efficiency policy in the European Union

Abstract

Energy efficiency is a policy strategy to make energy savings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. This paper investigates the passage of amendments to the Energy Efficiency Directive during 2016–2018 as a case study. It focuses on an incident, in which the rapporteur in charge of the energy efficiency file in the European Parliament proposed to re-think the way energy efficiency is defined and measured thus initiating a struggle over the meaning of energy efficiency itself. Drawing on insights from the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and work on indicator politics, this paper explores how the meaning of energy efficiency was negotiated through the way it is measured. These political negotiations are used as a case to empirically explore politics of measurement, i.e. practices and procedures through which the conceptualization and measurement of energy efficiency get entwined, and in which a seemingly “technical” discussion weaves together scientific and methodological aspects with political, societal and environmental issues. In this way, the work presented here explores how processes of politicization and depoliticization in the formulation of energy efficiency indicators contribute to bringing about the very governance object that is energy efficiency.