Voluntary Agreements for Energy Efficeincy in five EU countries

Martina Chidiak, Centre d'Economie Industrielle (CERNA), Ecole des Mines de Paris

Keywords

Abstract

Voluntary agreements (VAs) for CO2 reduction, and the associated goal of improving energy efficiency have been widely adopted in EU member countries. This paper explores the evidence from five countries (France, Sweden, The Netherlands, Germany and Denmark) which show a wide institutional diversity of VAs for CO2 reduction.

Firstly, VAs are used on their own or along with other instruments in a policy-mix. Secondly, industry commitments range from collective, non-enforceable targets set at the industry branch level, to enforceable firm-level commitments. Thirdly, quite different provisions for monitoring draw the attention not only to the ability to set sanctions in case of non-compliance, but also to evaluate progress and to improve VA performance.

Further, the contrasts in VA characteristics are summarised and highlighted through a VA classification which focuses on the role of industry and the government in VA target-setting, the degree of definition of firms commitments and the existence of an alternative or “fall back” policy instrument. The resulting comparison of VA “types” stresses the need of in-depth studies of VA design and implementation for their assessment as policy instruments and for international comparisons on the experience with VAs.