气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Renewable energy policy as an enabler of fossil fuel subsidy reform? Applying a socio-technical perspective to the cases of South Africa and Tunisia

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DOI	10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.05.004
	Renewable energy policy as an enabler of fossil fuel subsidy reform? Applying a socio-technical perspective to the cases of South Africa and Tunisia
	Schmidt T.S.; Matsuo T.; Michaelowa A.
发表日期	2017
ISSN	0959-3780
卷号	45
英文摘要	Fossil fuel subsidies are a key barrier for economic development and climate change mitigation. While the plunge in international fuel prices has increased the political will to introduce fossil fuel subsidy reforms, recently introduced reforms may risk backsliding when fuel prices rebound − particularly if they fail to address the underlying mechanisms that create demand for low fossil fuel prices. Extant literature has mostly focused on the consequences of fossil fuel subsidies, including their economic or environmental impact, and the social contract that make their reform difficult. In this paper, we complement the extant literature with a socio-technical perspective of fossil fuel subsidies to explore the systemic mechanisms that often keep subsidies in place and how these mechanisms can be weakened. Specifically, in case studies of the electricity sectors in South Africa and Tunisia, we trace the socio-technical foundations of their fossil fuel subsidy regimes and the potential of renewable energy policy in disrupting this regime We discuss the relevance of our results for national policymakers wishing to implement and international actors wishing to support fossil fuel subsidy reform. In particular, we highlight that the socio-technical perspective of fossil fuel subsidies offers new intervention points for subsidy reform and that policy designs and assistance should strengthen technologies and actors that are most likely to destabilize the fossil fuel subsidy regime. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd
英文关键词	Climate change; Fossil fuel regime; Lock-in; Policy change; Political economy
学科领域	climate change; economic development; electricity supply; energy policy; fossil fuel; policy making; political economy; price dynamics; reform process; renewable resource; subsidy system; technical efficiency; thermal regime; South Africa; Tunisia
语种	英语
scopus关键词	climate change; economic development; electricity supply; energy policy; fossil fuel; policy making; political economy; price dynamics; reform process; renewable resource; subsidy system; technical efficiency; thermal regime; South Africa; Tunisia
来源期刊	Global Environmental Change
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/117240
作者单位	Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences, Energy Politics Group, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland; Institute of Political Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Schmidt T.S.,Matsuo T.,Michaelowa A.. Renewable energy policy as an enabler of fossil fuel subsidy reform? Applying a socio-technical perspective to the cases of South Africa and Tunisia[J],2017,45.
APA	Schmidt T.S.,Matsuo T.,&Michaelowa A..(2017).Renewable energy policy as an enabler of fossil fuel subsidy reform? Applying a socio-technical perspective to the cases of South Africa and Tunisia.Global Environmental Change,45.
MLA	Schmidt T.S.,et al."Renewable energy policy as an enabler of fossil fuel subsidy reform? Applying a socio-technical perspective to the cases of South Africa and Tunisia".Global Environmental Change 45(2017).