Bringing rigour to energy innovation policy evaluation
Name
AuthorAccepted_FINAL_Pless_et_al_002_.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
231.27 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
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aee50e2e6b3d70def3c99567f8319bc4
Author(s) • •
Pless, Jacquelyn
Hepburn, Cameron
Farrell, Niall
Date Issued
2020
Journal
Nature Energy
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Clean energy innovation is pivotal for low-cost energy sector decarbonization. Substantial public research and development funding is spent on energy innovation. Generating more evidence on which support mechanisms most effectively drive clean energy innovations, and why, could improve their design moving forward. In this Perspective, we discuss five challenges that researchers often face when attempting to rigorously evaluate energy innovation policies and public subsidy programmes. We recommend solutions, such as developing new innovation outcome metrics that consider unique features of the energy sector and building databases that cover long time periods. We also suggest that researchers and funding agencies work together to implement randomized control trials or conduct quasi-experimental evaluation of existing programmes and policies wherever possible.
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/S41560-020-0557-1