Abstract
Chapter 1 introduces the aim of this book: to assess and explain the making and implementation of the EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan). The Plan was adopted in 2008 in order to ‘push’ low-carbon technology research and innovation to complement EU climate and energy market-pull policies, such as carbon pricing and renewable energy targets. The chapter presents the research questions: (1) How and why was the SET-Plan established? (2) Have implementation and performance been in line with the original intentions? (3) How can we explain the making and implementation of the SET-Plan? With this book on EU low-carbon research and innovation we seek to fill a void in the literature on EU climate and energy policies.
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Notes
- 1.
‘Technological innovations’ comprise new products and processes and significant technological changes of products and processes. An innovation has been ‘implemented’ if it has been introduced in the market (OECD 2013).
- 2.
The SET-Plan envisaged specific priority to supporting and realizing large demonstration projects, viewed in the innovation literature as critical for realizing ideas as innovations for the market (Bossink 2015; IEA 2015). Demonstration projects typically test full-scale workability of the technology to prove its utility to potential users in the market (e.g. see Myers 1978).
- 3.
The package sets three key targets for 2020: 20 per cent cut in GHG emissions (from 1990 levels), 20 per cent of EU energy from renewables, 20 per cent improvement in energy efficiency.
- 4.
Buchan (2009), Jordan et al. (2010), Oberthür and Pallemaerts (2010), Parker and Karlsson (2010), Birchfield and Duffield (2011), Morata and Sandoval (2012), Boasson and Wettestad (2013), Buchan and Keay (2015), Dupont and Oberthür (2015), Selin and VanDeveer (2015), Torney (2015), Delreux and Happaerts (2016), Dupont (2016), Liefferink and Wurzel (2016), Skjærseth et al. (2016), Wurzel et al. (2017).
- 5.
- 6.
Energy research and innovation have been selected as one of five pillars of the new Energy Union. The other pillars are energy security, a fully integrated internal energy market, improved energy efficiency and emissions reductions.
- 7.
In 2014, the EU decided to increase the ambitiousness of its climate and energy policy towards 2030 by setting new and stricter targets for GHG reduction (40 per cent by 2030 compared to 1990) and energy-system restructuring (27 per cent share for renewables in EU energy consumption, and 27 per cent improvement in energy efficiency). The targets for renewables and energy efficiency were later increased to 32 per cent and 32.5 per cent, respectively.
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Eikeland, P.O., Skjærseth, J.B. (2020). Introduction. In: The Politics of Low-Carbon Innovation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17913-7_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17913-7_1
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