International Regimes for Energy: Finding the Right Level for Policy

Abstract

The recent revival of interest in energy policy is driven by a combination of concerns about the security of future sources of energy supply and also about the consequences of using those resources, particularly their contribution to climate change. Yet the ability of energy policy makers to address these problems faces major challenges. This is partly because the energy economy is the aggregate outcome of the choices of millions of energy consumers, whether individual citizens or firms, and also because many aspects of that energy economy are outside national control. If anything, it is national energy policies that have been subject, in different ways and to differing extents, to international constraints and pressures.