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Energy Policy

Encyclopedia of Public Policy
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Central Definition

Energy policy refers to government action (or inaction) shaping energy supply and demand while seeking to respond to evolving concerns of energy security, energy equity and energy sustainability.

Defining Energy Policy

In the fall of 2022, as the war raged on in Ukraine, European governments called on their citizens to turn their thermostats down to help reduce energy demand during wintertime. Some even warned of the risk of broadband blackouts, which might prevent people from making emergency calls. This episode provides a vivid illustration that energy is a basic element of daily life, whose absence has profound social, economic, and political consequences. Energy is thus one of several ‘particular matters’ in Wilson’s (2006) general definition of public policy: “the actions, objectives, and pronouncements of governments on particular matters, the steps they take (or fail to take) to implement them, and the explanations they give for what happens (or does not...

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Correspondence to Maya Jegen .

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Jegen, M. (2023). Energy Policy. In: van Gerven, M., Rothmayr Allison, C., Schubert, K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Public Policy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90434-0_49-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90434-0_49-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-90434-0

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Energy Policy
    Published:
    23 June 2023

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90434-0_49-2

  2. Original

    Energy Policy
    Published:
    09 May 2023

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90434-0_49-1