Success and failure in the promotion of an increased energy efficiency in industry – A comparative evaluation of the implementation of policy instruments in five EU countries

Jamil Khan and Joakim Nordqvist, Environmental and Energy Systems Studies, Lund University, Sweden

Keywords

policy instruments, evaluation, implementation, industry, energy efficiency

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to make a comparative analysis of the implementation of five public policy instruments directed to the industry sector, which have in common the aim to promote an increased energy efficiency. The empirical material for the paper comes from ex-post evaluations of the policy instruments carried out within the EU-project AID-EE (Active Implementation of the European Directive on Energy Efficiency). All five instruments where implemented in countries from the north of Europe (Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands), which facilitates a comparison since administrational cultures and market conditions are fairly similar. The focus of the paper is to discuss and compare key factors that contributed to success or failure in the implementation of the five policy instruments. It is argued that there are some important explanatory factors that all, or most, of the policy instruments have in common. Three such factors are analysed: stakeholder involvement in design and implementation, flexibility in the implementation phase, and the integration of policy instruments.