ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ANALYSES
The focus is on assessing the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of energy and environmental policies and instruments and their impact on the economy and employment. This includes an actor-specific analysis of the interests of different market participants, but also of political or societal decision-makers. The focus is on the interaction of different policy levels – from global and EU-wide energy and climate policy to the regional level. In addition, approaches from the field of regulatory economics help to analyze direct competitive effects on energy markets on the one hand, and market-controlling interventions by competition authorities or regulators on the other. The analysis of legal frameworks as well as subsidy instruments and their effects on society, companies and institutions is essential.
PUBLIC CHOICE ANALYSES & GOVERNANCE
In addition to the energy and environmental policy analyzes, decision-making processes are analyzed and evaluated using modern political economy approaches in order to assess the enforceability of energy and environmental policy instruments. In this context, the incentive problems for political decision-makers rooted in the political-institutional framework are identified and the resulting policy outcomes are critically evaluated. Finally, alternative policy frameworks and their advantages and disadvantages can be derived.
ROADMAPPING
There are two basic approaches to roadmaps: the planning approach, which outlines a required sequence of events leading to a specific desired outcome; and the exploratory approach, which attempts to predict future developments. The planning approach is of particular interest where there is a commitment to specific goals or where clear outcomes are sought. By involving stakeholders and experts, the goal can be clearly articulated in the form of a vision and the steps needed to achieve it can be discussed. Structuring the path to the goal into smaller steps, delineated by milestones and indicators, avoids uncertainty and allows for better planning. Roadmapping is thus a tool for designing governmental and operational policies. In the exploratory approach, the roadmapping method can be used to analyze likely outcomes based on given developments and policies, and to derive a corrective action if necessary.
