Energy Policy最新文献

{"title":"Hydrogen in the European power sector – A case study on the impacts of regulatory frameworks for green hydrogen","authors":"Julian Radek,&nbsp;Marco Sebastian Breder,&nbsp;Christoph Weber","doi":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115200","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115200","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To ensure renewable hydrogen (H₂) production, the European Union (EU) has introduced regulatory frameworks, notably the Delegated Act (DA) on Renewable Hydrogen. These regulations aim to ensure a 70% reduction in emissions compared to steam-methane reforming by defining requirements for renewable hydrogen production, including notably criteria of additionality, as well as spatial and temporal correlation. However, concerns have arisen among stakeholders regarding the potential barriers these criteria may pose to the growth of the EU hydrogen economy. Our analysis examines the implications of these regulations, analyzing the effects of the criteria on renewable hydrogen production from a system perspective. By doing that, we can assess the interplay with hydrogen production in European non-EU countries, as well as the role of imports from third countries, while accounting for the EU objective of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Our findings indicate that the aggregate impact of the DA on the EU hydrogen economy is rather limited, but that the regulation may induce substantial spatial shifts in hydrogen production within the EU. The more decisive factor appears to be the interaction between the DA and the availability of imports satisfying similar regulatory requirements, as different scenarios regarding potential imports lead to differing impacts of the DA on both installed electrolyzer capacities and domestic hydrogen production levels.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11672,"journal":{"name":"Energy Policy","volume":"213 ","pages":"Article 115200"},"PeriodicalIF":9.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147386863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Worst first: Thermal retrofits, carbon prices, and inequality","authors":"Sophie M. Behr ,&nbsp;Merve Kucuk ,&nbsp;Maximilian Longmuir ,&nbsp;Karsten Neuhoff","doi":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115145","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115145","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The energy price crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exposed the heightened vulnerability of low-income households to rising heating costs, particularly those in energy-inefficient buildings. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), this study examines the distributional impact of heating costs across income deciles and evaluates the effectiveness of policy interventions. We find that low-income tenants are the most vulnerable segment of the population, with elevated risks of energy poverty. While tenant-landlord carbon cost-splitting can partially shield low-income households from carbon costs, they remain exposed to energy price risks. In contrast, a “Worst-First” retrofit strategy, prioritizing upgrades in the least efficient buildings, substantially reduces heating costs and mitigates energy poverty. Our findings highlight the need for targeted retrofit policies to ensure both equitable decarbonization and economic relief for vulnerable households.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11672,"journal":{"name":"Energy Policy","volume":"213 ","pages":"Article 115145"},"PeriodicalIF":9.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147386858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Global renewable hydrogen certification: Frameworks, gaps, and policies","authors":"Maham Hussain ,&nbsp;Eoin Syron","doi":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115212","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115212","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Green hydrogen, produced through water electrolysis using renewable electricity, is increasingly recognised as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the energy system. Its high energy density supports long-duration energy storage, while its chemical flexibility enables use as a low-carbon feedstock for ammonia, methanol, and other electro fuels. Green hydrogen is important for decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors such as steel production, maritime transport, and other energy-intensive industries where direct electrification remains limited. However, its environmental credibility and market acceptance depend on certification systems that consistently and transparently quantify lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions and related sustainability attributes.</div><div>This study examines hydrogen certification from a global perspective, focusing on technical design, regulatory approaches, and governance arrangements. A comparative analysis of existing certification schemes is conducted, with emphasis on system boundary definitions, emissions accounting methods, greenhouse gas threshold values, and monitoring, reporting, and verification requirements. Unlike studies limited to individual schemes or regions, this paper adopts a system-level approach linking technical certification rules with governance and implementation practices across regions.</div><div>The analysis identifies substantial variation among certification schemes, including differences in the scope of lifecycle assessment, handling of upstream electricity emissions, reliance on default versus project-specific emission factors, and inclusion of broader sustainability criteria. These differences reduce interoperability, increase uncertainty for project developers, and create barriers to cross-border hydrogen trade.</div><div>The paper identifies five policy priorities: shared technical baselines and emissions thresholds; interoperable digital traceability tools; alignment with international accounting standards; inclusive stakeholder participation; and progress toward mutual recognition between countries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11672,"journal":{"name":"Energy Policy","volume":"213 ","pages":"Article 115212"},"PeriodicalIF":9.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147386907","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Financial incentives and intrinsic motives for residents’ participation in demand response programs","authors":"Yu Wang ,&nbsp;Gregory Howard ,&nbsp;Wendong Zhang ,&nbsp;Marilyn Brown ,&nbsp;Kristen Cetin ,&nbsp;James McCalley","doi":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115201","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115201","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Many utilities have provided financial incentives to encourage residential customers to enroll in direct load control (DLC) programs to harness demand response resources. However, financial incentives do not always result in a high participation rate. This study aims to assess residential customers' willingness to enroll in utility-run DLC programs and analyze how incentives affect participation intention. A survey employing the contingent valuation method collected 591 responses from a random sample of U.S. Midwest residents. We prompted a dichotomous choice question to some respondents on whether to enroll in a DLC program with payments ranging from $10-$200, while asking others’ participant intention without mentioning a financial incentive. Overall, 57.4% of residents were willing to enroll and the estimated willingness to accept DLC was $10-$42 per year. We found a U-shaped pattern between payment and willingness to participate, which suggests the intrinsic motivations for DLC participation can be crowded out by monetary incentives. Our analysis estimated the crowded-out intrinsic motivations valued at $30-$157 annually, varied by program type. Additionally, we found several factors affecting acceptance of DLC programs, including knowledge learning, concerns of comfort loss, and personal perception of demand response for energy savings, reliability, and environmental benefits. Findings from this study have significant policy implications and help improve the design of utility DLC programs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11672,"journal":{"name":"Energy Policy","volume":"213 ","pages":"Article 115201"},"PeriodicalIF":9.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147386831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Contagion in global clean energy markets: Evidence from multilateral and unilateral policy episodes","authors":"Cody Yu-Ling Hsiao ,&nbsp;Pengyang Li ,&nbsp;Chin Man Chui ,&nbsp;Xin Zheng","doi":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115217","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115217","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Addressing climate change and energy security increasingly relies on clean energy policies implemented through national and international frameworks; however, existing studies provide limited evidence on how policy-induced risks propagate across countries, differ between multilateral and unilateral policy regimes, and shape cross-market interconnectedness in global clean energy markets. This study examines the effects of major multilateral and unilateral clean energy policies implemented between 2015 and 2024 on stock returns in clean energy markets across 20 countries. Using multiple-dependence contagion tests combined with network analysis, we quantify the magnitude and direction of policy-driven risk transmission. The main findings are as follows: 1) multilateral policies generate significantly stronger contagion effects than unilateral interventions, with the US withdrawal from and subsequent re-entry into the Paris Agreement producing the largest global impact; 2) among unilateral policies, Japan's Basic Hydrogen Strategy and China's 14th Five-Year Plan are the most influential episodes in static network analysis, whereas dynamic analysis identifies Germany's Acceleration Package as the dominant source of time-varying spillovers; 3) policy-induced shocks exhibit spatial dependence, with transmission effects declining as geographical distance increases; and 4) European markets display the highest level of interconnectedness, followed by the Americas, while Asian markets exhibit relatively lower cross-border policy transmission. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers and investors aiming to manage risks and highlight the importance of strengthening multilateral cooperation in the evolving global clean energy landscape.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11672,"journal":{"name":"Energy Policy","volume":"213 ","pages":"Article 115217"},"PeriodicalIF":9.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147386905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The cost of inefficiency: A techno-economic assessment of gas flaring in Iraq","authors":"Ahmed A. Maaroof ,&nbsp;Joseph D. Smith ,&nbsp;Mohammed H.S. Zangana","doi":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115215","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115215","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Routine gas flaring in Iraq represents a significant loss of energy resources and economic value while contributing to environmental degradation and power shortages. This study presents a national-scale techno-economic assessment of gas flaring in Iraq from 2012 to 2024 using satellite-derived data from the World Bank's Global Flaring and Methane Reduction (GFMR) database. Both estimated and potential recovery methods were applied to quantify thermal and electrical energy losses and their corresponding economic impacts. Flared gas volumes were converted to thermal power and potential electricity generation, expressed in megawatts (MW), while flaring rates were reported in million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD). Electrical output was evaluated assuming gas-fired power plant efficiencies of 40% and 60%. In addition to full recovery potential, partial gas utilization scenarios (20–80%) were considered to reflect realistic technical and infrastructure constraints, enabling both technical and economic analyses of recoverable energy and revenue. Results indicate that routine flaring corresponds to substantial electricity losses, with medium-sized flares (5–50 MMSCFD) contributing the largest share due to their widespread distribution. The estimated lost generation capacity ranges from approximately 8000 to 10,000 MW, sufficient to significantly mitigate Iraq's chronic electricity deficit. Economic losses were calculated based on flared gas volumes and Henry Hub natural gas prices. On average, these losses amount to USD 1–2 billion per year, with peak losses reaching nearly USD 3.3 billion. The findings highlight medium-scale flares as priority targets for scalable gas recovery and decentralized utilization strategies, demonstrating that even partial utilization can yield considerable energy and economic benefits.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11672,"journal":{"name":"Energy Policy","volume":"213 ","pages":"Article 115215"},"PeriodicalIF":9.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147387291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Good students, mimics and laggards: Policy lessons for closing electricity access gaps in Africa","authors":"Carlos Guadarrama ,&nbsp;Yaya Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115196","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115196","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines why extensive adoption of off-grid and mini-grid “best practice” policies has not translated into improved electricity access outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Building on the Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE), we combine a cross-sectional analysis of rural electrification rates with a nested analysis of four contrasting country cases—Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and South Sudan. We find that higher RISE off-grid and mini-grid scores are not associated with better rural electrification outcomes, and that countries with near-complete policy adoption can exhibit low access rates. The case studies show that local capabilities, a small number of cross-cutting policies, financing availability, and appropriate policy sequencing matter more than policy quantity. These findings highlight the limits of best-practice benchmarking in low-capacity contexts and suggest that RISE is most useful as a diagnostic policy database rather than a performance metric. The results have implications for policymakers and development partners seeking to accelerate progress toward SDG7.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11672,"journal":{"name":"Energy Policy","volume":"213 ","pages":"Article 115196"},"PeriodicalIF":9.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147386859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Corrigendum to “Support mechanisms for low-carbon hydrogen: The risks of segmenting a commodity market” [Energy Policy 202 art 114605 DOI 10.1016/j.enpol.2025.114605]","authors":"Paolo Mastropietro,&nbsp;Pablo Rodilla","doi":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115150","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115150","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":11672,"journal":{"name":"Energy Policy","volume":"213 ","pages":"Article 115150"},"PeriodicalIF":9.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147386894","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Energy policy strategies for cleaner production: The roles of renewable energy and green innovation","authors":"Yugang He","doi":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115214","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115214","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cleaner production is central to reconciling economic growth with climate goals, yet its drivers operate unevenly across space. This study examines the determinants of provincial carbon emissions using an annual panel of Chinese provinces from 2000 to 2023, with explicit attention to structural, technological, and institutional heterogeneity. The analysis evaluates the roles of renewable energy deployment and green innovation, while systematically accounting for GDP per capita, industrial structure, urbanization, foreign direct investment, and environmental regulation. Across a suite of complementary estimators that address cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity, higher renewable energy shares and stronger innovation capacity are consistently associated with lower CO₂ emissions. These mitigation effects are economically meaningful and robust, whereas economic growth remains emissions-increasing. By contrast, industrial upgrading and stringent environmental regulation are linked to significant emission reductions, urbanization exhibits a modest positive association, and the effect of foreign direct investment is weak and context dependent. Distribution-sensitive estimates further reveal pronounced asymmetries: the emissions-reducing impacts of renewable energy and innovation intensify markedly in high-emission provinces, highlighting the limits of uniform policy prescriptions. Machine-learning validation confirms the dominant importance of renewable energy and innovation among competing drivers and supports the stability of the empirical patterns. Taken together, the findings underscore the value of regionally differentiated strategies that integrate clean energy expansion, innovation incentives, and enforceable regulation. Such an approach directly advances SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), while reinforcing SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) through cleaner and more resilient production systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11672,"journal":{"name":"Energy Policy","volume":"213 ","pages":"Article 115214"},"PeriodicalIF":9.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147386908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"What determines the uptake of solar PV? – A survey of early, potential and unlikely adopters of residential PV systems and participants of community PV projects","authors":"Mert Duygan ,&nbsp;Maria Anna Hecher ,&nbsp;Claudia R. Binder","doi":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115193","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115193","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, deployment of solar PV needs to be increased significantly. There is abundant literature on the adoption of solar PV. However, most of the prior work focused on adopters or their comparison with non-adopters. In contrast, there is relatively very little research explicitly on potential adopters and unlikely adopters. Hence, through a large-N survey with Swiss households (N = 4′909), we investigated what factors characterise unlikely, potential and early adopters and participants of solar PV and PV projects, respectively. We analysed the intention and adoption of residential solar PV and the participation in PV projects and compared the determinants of both alternatives. Our findings reveal that psychosocial characteristics and pro-solar policy beliefs as well as contextual factors are important for developing both an intention to adopt and to participate. The results also show that non-adopters and non-participants do not represent a uniform group. For potential adopters, the perceived characteristics of PV, exchanges about PV within personal network and housing infrastructure stand out as important factors that could hinder or drive the progress towards adoption. By providing a finer-grained insight into potential adopters and unlikely adopters/participants, our study enables targeting of different adopter categories more effectively.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11672,"journal":{"name":"Energy Policy","volume":"213 ","pages":"Article 115193"},"PeriodicalIF":9.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147386910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}