Which EU Policies Are the Most Effective at Inducing Renewable Energy Innovation?
Summary
Nowadays, the world is heading in the direction of decarbonization and
adoption of renewable energy sources. As such, it is crucial to evaluate the
commonly used policy tools designed to stimulate innovation in renewable energy technologies. This paper, therefore, examines the impact of
various policy measures on renewable energy innovation in the European
Union. Using the Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood model and measuring innovation as the number of patent citations, the analysis estimates
the significance and magnitude of individual policies and policy mixes,
while taking into account potential confounding factors. My thesis shows
that the EU’s needs for stimulating renewable energy innovation are best
met by introducing feed-in schemes and increasing renewable energy R&D
budget while highlighting the region’s lowered responsiveness to environmental policies compared to other OECD countries in the past. These
EU-specific findings offer important policy implications for designing the
most impactful measures tailored for the European context.