Low carbon energy transition in EU: Lessons from economic, institutional and management approaches

Abstract

This chapter studies the energy policy of the European Union with a focus on regional cooperation in energy policy. Energy policy has been one of the center pieces of the foundation of the European Communities, which later became the European Union. The chapter first describes how the European countries started their regional energy cooperation in the areas of coal, steel and nuclear energy. We then analyze in detail the current "European Strategy for Energy and Climate Change". The last part of the chapter is dedicated to possible lessons for Asia's regional energy policies, in particular in the area of regional cooperation. We show that market-based instruments of regional cooperation, such as regional emission trading schemes, require an institutional setting that might not be yet present in Asia. In contrast, non-market based instruments, such as information exchange or regional energy efficiency labels, might provide a more promising way of regional energy cooperation at the current level of economic integration.