Anglo-Saxon and German approaches to neo-liberalism and environmental policy: the case of financing renewable energy

David Toke, Volkmar Lauber

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

90 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

‘Renewable electricity certificate’ trading systems that have been established to promote renewable energy in the UK are a form of neoliberal environmental governance introduced to assimilate environmental objectives with neoliberal hegemony. However, in this case, neoliberal ideological objectives have not been translated into practice since the British Renewable Obligation is not performing as efficiently as its proponents hoped. By contrast, so-called ‘Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff’ (REFIT) systems which involve the fixing of tariffs for renewable energy by governmental intervention, are regarded as producing more efficient outcomes. The use of the REFIT system in Germany is associated with an institutional tradition that places emphasis on giving competitive opportunities to new market entrants in order to break up concentrations of market power by incumbents.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)677-687
Number of pages11
JournalGeoforum
Volume38
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2007

Keywords

  • neoliberal
  • environmental governance
  • ordoliberal
  • tradable green certificates
  • REFIT
  • metaregulation
  • renewable energy

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