Roundtable: Comparative renewable energy policy and politics

Abstract

Political science research on domestic climate politics is booming. Comparative renewable energy has gained particularly much attention. This roundtable takes stock of recent developments, and highlights promising future developments. Our starting point is two recently published books: ‘Political Economies of Energy Transition: Wind and Solar Power in Brazil and South Africa’, by Kathryn Hochstetler and ‘Comparative Renewables Policy: Political, Organizational and European Fields’, edited by Elin Lerum Boasson, Merethe Dotterud Leiren and Jørgen Wettestad. The two books challenge one-eyed technology-focused accounts of renewable energy development and show that politics can be crucial for renewable energy development. In her book on Brazil and South Africa, Hochstetler shows how choices about wind and solar power respond to four different constellations of interests and institutions, or four simultaneous political economies of energy transition. The four political economies in focus relate to climate change, industry development, electricity consumption and siting, and the national energy transition finally depends on the intersection of these four. The edited volume by Elin Lerum Boasson and colleagues develops a multi-field approach, and systematically compares renewable policy developments in France, Germany, Poland, Norway, Sweden and the UK. In all countries, politicians have at critical junctures, made decisions against the will of powerful utilities. Moreover, EU policies have both spurred differentiation and divergence across countries. At the roundtable, we will highlight advantages and disadvantages of the theory approaches developed in the two books and discuss whether the two books can help us to explain renewables politics in other countries. Intervention 1: The gist of the ‘Political Economies of Energy Transition: Wind and Solar Power in Brazil and South Africa’ book, by Kathryn Hochstetler, Professor and Head of Department of International Development, London School of Economics and Political Science. Intervention 2: The gist of the ‘Comparative Renewables Policy: Political, Organizational and European Fields’ book, by Elin Lerum Boasson, Associate Professor and Deputy Head, Department of Political Science, University of Oslo. Intervention 3: ‘Germany and the UK: what may a political economy approach add to a multi-field assessment of the two countries’? by Merethe Dotterud Leiren, Research Director Climate Policy at CICERO, Centre for International Climate Research. Intervention 4: ‘Can the two books help us to explain renewables politics in other countries? How different are the political dynamics in China from what we see elsewhere?’ by Easwaran Narassimhan, PhD Tufts University Intervention 5: ‘How does the books ad to the literature on comparative renewables policy and politics, and what are the next steps for this line of research?’ By Israel Solorio, Associate Professor, Centre of Studies on Public Administration, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Intervention 6: ‘How may comparative renewables policy and politics studies contribute to the larger comparative literature on climate policy and politics?’ By Katja Biedenkopf, Associate Professor of Sustainability Politics at Leuven International and European Studies (LINES), KU Leuven.