WP2: Resource mobilization. How to increase the scale of resources allocated to energy transition?

The WP will study under which conditions different actor types are incentivized to participate actively in and make investment decisions that support the energy transition.

The uncertainty associated with the pending transition often limits the contributions of firms and investors. We will investigate how uncertainty can be reduced to mobilize resources. We will explore how it is possible to align transition and economic goals in order to legitimize transition policies and mobilize the business sector. With this in mind, we ask how competences and resources underpinning established industries and incumbent firms can be retrofitted and/or redeployed at scale in low-carbon activities to provide industrial diversification while decarbonizing the economy. This could for example be in form of cross-industry competence flows from petroleum to floating wind power (cf. UC5) or via business model innovation and clean-tech venture capital investments in smaller companies as we see electric utilities doing for charging infrastructure and IoT (UC3).

Next to firms, we also consider the role of different actors that play intermediary, coordination roles (e.g. business associations, NGOs, labor unions). For acceleration, particularly user-intermediaries that facilitate the embedding of new solutions and the mobilization of citizens that can delegitimize dominant unsustainable practices are important. Also, cross-sectoral intermediaries will become more and more important. Central issues are what shapes the legitimacy of an energy transition for different actor types, coordination of energy and industrial policy domains, and alignment of cross-sector institutions and regulations.

Additionally, we ask: How can the cost of climate change be internalized to investment decisions and auditing to facilitate cross-sector synergies between energy and finance sectors? Here the pricing of financial risks associated with policy uncertainty and high-carbon investment are particularly interesting.

Published Oct. 12, 2020 8:32 AM - Last modified Oct. 12, 2020 8:34 AM