Introduction

Abstract

The chapter provides an introduction to the book, by outlining the opportunities and challenges of bioenergy use, and discussing the role of economic policy advice in generating recommendations for a complex allocative and regulative problem. While the expansion of modern energetic biomass use can play an important role in transitioning to a low carbon energy system, it also entails sustainability risks and increases competition between various alternative uses for land and biomass resources. Indeed, German and European bioenergy policies have attracted fierce criticism with regard to efficiency and sustainability concerns. Economic policy advice can make a valuable contribution towards assessing these criticisms, and developing recommendations for a more rational policy design. However, theory-based, economic contributions to the debate have been primarily based on neoclassical economics, employing several idealised assumptions which prove problematic when confronted with the numerous sources of market and government failures which are relevant in the bioenergy context. This motivates the book’s research objectives: to gain additional economic insights into the governance of complex environmental policy problems, and to use these insights to develop economic recommendations for the case of German bioenergy policy which are closer to political realities than those based on the neoclassical construction of the problem. The German case study offers important lessons, since Germany was among the early movers in supporting the expansion of biomass use in all three energy sectors, which amplifies resource competition and increases coordination requirements between sectoral policy measures. Following the introduction of research objectives and methodology, the chapter outlines the structure of the book.