Towards a Rational Bioenergy Policy Concept

Designing biomass policy: The political economy of renewable energy for net zero

“…Given that existing economic approaches to energy provision in the United Kingdom have delivered massive profits and political influence to fossil fuel companies, it is justifiable to suggest that sustainable bioenergy deployment could challenge this status quo via alternative economic approaches, such as the one suggested by A. Purkus (2016).…”

“…However, this can prove difficult to implement in practice as this opens up the opportunity for bioenergy projects to practice alternative economic approaches which challenge the status quo, therefore structural power resists changes to locked‐in path‐dependent fossil fueled energy systems (Hielscher et al, 2011). Given that existing economic approaches to energy provision in the United Kingdom have delivered massive profits and political influence to fossil fuel companies, it is justifiable to suggest that sustainable bioenergy deployment could challenge this status quo via alternative economic approaches, such as the one suggested by A. Purkus (2016).…”

“…A. Purkus (2016) demonstrates that bioenergy policy could benefit from a new institutional economics approach that goes beyond a focus on efficiency measures, opening opportunities for policy design that seeks to change at an institutional level (Alexandra Purkus et al, 2015). However, as outlined by Hielscher et al (2011), the threat of change motivates existing power structures, such as incumbent energy producers, to seek to minimize the impact of potential change on their finances.…”