The Regional Governance of Energy-Neutral Housing: Toward a Framework for Analysis

Abstract

Regions are expected to play a key role in realizing international, European, and national climate and energy goals. Also regions in the Netherlands are working toward these goals, taking initiatives toward an energy-neutral built environment by 2050. However, it remains unclear how such efforts and other socially innovative activities can best be described and how variation between them in terms of governance can be explained. In this article, we develop a framework for analyzing the governance of regional energy-neutral housing initiatives. We ask what factors shape regional climate and energy governance, particularly regional efforts to increase the efficiency of urban dwellings. We answer this question using a subnational comparative method and a most similar case design, focusing on three Dutch regions: Utrecht, Noord-Brabant and Drenthe. Based on document analysis and 24 semi-structured interviews, we find that the regional governance of energy-neutral housing initiatives is primarily driven by existing social networks in the regions, and less determined by local characteristics of the built environment. Thus, regional governance seems to have generated solutions that are supported by regional actors. Nonetheless, as these solutions are not entirely tailored to the regional situation, functionally speaking, a key question for future research is how effective these solutions will be.

A Governance Approach to Regional Energy Transition: Meaning, Conceptualization and Practice

“…In line with De Leeuw and Groenleer [15] the WB case showed that regional governance processes take place in the shadow of policy developments at the national level, and even to the extent that ongoing negotiations in policy making at the national level create a high degree of uncertainty. This leads to inaction at the regional level with stakeholders refraining from action because they perceive high uncertainty with regard to the key future policy instruments that will eventually be introduced, and the consequences this will likely have on the level playing.…”

“…'Policy mixes' retrieved in the cases revealed a comprehensive picture, but also showed the need for particular instruments like Green Deals and covenants to deal with the innovative and comprehensive nature of regional energy project covering cross-jurisdictional boundaries in complex multi-actor settings (e.g., in the A16 and Amernet cases). Perhaps, it is fair to state that comprehensive 'policy mixes' were required to deal with the lack of systemic innovation structures regarding energy transition in the WB region, arguably as new governance arrangements, social innovations [15,80], or even 'proto-innovation systems' [21].…”

“…This leads to inaction at the regional level with stakeholders refraining from action because they perceive high uncertainty with regard to the key future policy instruments that will eventually be introduced, and the consequences this will likely have on the level playing. Therefore, it is probably fair to state that national government has an influential role in setting the agenda of RETs [15].…”

“…More in general, national government initiates the agenda of sustainable transition and related policy issues, and decentralized governments follow. A study on regional governance of near zero energy buildings in Dutch provinces revealed that actors experience difficulty achieving energy-neutral housing policy goals, at the stage of framing, assessment and comprehension of the agenda, and that, provincial governance primarily involved incumbent social networks resulting in limited development of regional and local configurations in terms of new roles, new responsibilities or new relationships [15].…”

“…Although there is a growing number of scholarly studies available on RET [1], few actually focus on regions as the level where inter-municipal issues manifest themselves and are addressed. The majority of these studies either focus on the local level (e.g., [14]) or on the provincial level (and actions provincial governments engage in; e.g., [15,16]). This paper taps into the knowledge gap of governing energy transition at the regional level to address inter-municipal issues pertaining to energy transition, and presents its meaning, relevant theoretical concepts, and its implications.…”