TiREG

Multi-level governance of the energy transition: learning from the implementation of the Brabant Energy Agreement

Researchers

  • Martijn Groenleer
  • Laura de Leeuw

In collaboration with

  • Telos and others

Supported by

  •  

    Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)

  • Province of Noord-Brabant

Period

  • 2016-

Summary

In 2013, the so-called Agreement on Energy for Sustainable Growth (or the Dutch Energy Agreement) was signed by over forty organizations, including governments at various levels, representative bodies of the private sector, as well as societal groups. In several Dutch regions, parties have since negotiated additional agreements to implement and elaborate the agreement negotiated at the national level. In Brabant, this resulted in the Brabant Energy Agreement (BEA), a bottom-up initiative of a variety of regional parties.

It has been suggested that the BEA and its implementation could serve as a ‘living lab’ for innovation, technologically but also socially. Yet, in practice, the implementation of the BEA has been delayed, apparently as a result of hesitance, and sometimes even backtracking of parties.

This research project will focus on new forms of multilevel and multi-actor climate change and energy governance, exploring the drivers and barriers for small-scale experimentation and learning, collaborative regional innovation, and, ultimately large-scale societal transformation. It asks what lessons can be learned from the governance of the energy transition at the local and regional level, notably the implementation of the Brabant Energy Agreement, with regards to the roles of actors, their interactions and the institutional arrangements structuring those interactions.

To answer these questions, an in-depth investigation of the implementation of the BEA will be carried out, and possibly also other regional energy agreements such as the one in Gelderland or internationally, thus allowing for comparison and, to some extent, generalization.