Efficient strategy to support renewable energy: Integration in overall climate and energy security policies

This report reviews how the Nordic countries can develop a strategy for renewable energy that delivers efficiently on the two underlying policy objectives of climate change and energy security challenges.

The overarching elements in the evaluation of existing polices and the policy recommendations that follows from the analysis falls into three main parts:

+ Expanding renewable energy is not an end in itself, but a tool to deliver on the two real policy targets: climate change and energy security.
+ Too much policy focus at the Nordic and EU level is dedicated to boost renewable energy share of energy production in the near term, and insufficient resources are allocated to develop future low carbon technologies, which are required when CO2 abatement targets become more ambitious.
+ The long term nature of the challenges and huge investments in low carbon technologies required to deliver on long term targets puts a very high premium on policies that reduces policy risks as perceived by investors.

The report was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers and written by Copenhagen Economics.