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Municipalities in the UK are increasingly engaging in local management of one or more parts of the energy system. The municipal energy companies set up to manage this engagement have the potential to contribute to a low-carbon transition through acceleration of low-carbon energy technology roll-out and demand management. However, municipal energy companies face many constraints that limit their growth in number and scale and restrict their potential to contribute to climate change mitigation. This paper aims to develop a better understanding of why and how municipal energy companies form to help to identify how policy and regulation could better support their proliferation and their contribution to climate change mitigation. We conducted a longitudinal analysis (from 2013-2017) of five UK cities' attempts to develop new institutional arrangements to engage in the national energy system and contribute to climate change mitigation. We found that the fundamental purpose of municipal energy companies was different to those of the private sector; using energy to deliver essential services and place-specific outcomes, rather than aiming to deliver energy at least cost. The scope of engagement was dependent on a city's unique characteristics and factors driving decisions. We found that there was no blueprint for a municipal energy company, rather the final form was shaped by a city's unique characteristics and decision drivers and emerged from a process of experimentation and learning. This 'pathway' towards a municipal energy company is also heavily influenced by the changing policy context, meaning that studying the evolution of MECs over time is very important. Specific changes in UK policy have significantly reduced the potential of MECs to contribute to carbon emissions reduction. We propose a framework of characteristics, decision drivers and pathways to better understand the evolution of MECs and to support the identification of policy and regulation that could enable their proliferation. We illustrate the application of this framework to maximise the contribution of MECs to climate change mitigation in cities. We identified a need for policy to recognize and enable different institutional drivers (including climate change) and institutional forms and encourage experimentation. Furthermore, new approaches to accounting and valuation are needed that capture social and environmental outcomes and outcomes that occur in the long-term.
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Few areas of international development research have seen as much transformation over recent years as those relating to energy access and low carbon transitions. New policy initiatives, technological innovations and business models have radically transformed the configuration and dynamics of the sector, driven by the urgency of ongoing climate change. This article asks how, given these rapidly moving contexts, policymakers can engage with research at different scales to gather evidence needed for effective decision-making, particularly within the context of the frequently opposing aims of increasing energy access and climate change mitigation. The authors trace the general debates around how research impact is conceived within different constituencies, before exploring the relationship between policymakers, the academic community and other stakeholders within the specific context of energy and international development research. Drawing on cross-cutting lessons from thirteen research projects funded by UK research councils and government under the Understanding Sustainable Energy Solutions programme, they examine critically ways in which impact and engagement have been conceived by both researchers and research funders. They ask how those lessons can feed into the design of future initiatives to make low carbon transitions meaningful as pathways for inclusive development in communities in Africa and Asia.
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