Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Renewable energy policy: Enumerating costs reduces support

Nature Energy volume 2, Article number: 17106 (2017) Cite this article

Subjects

Renewable energy policies enjoy greater support compared to policies focused explicitly on climate change, and thus present a politically plausible path toward carbon emission reduction. However, new research shows that renewable energy policy support declines when people are informed about the policy costs for home energy bills.

The 2015 Paris Agreement's goal of keeping average temperature increase ‘well below’ 2 °C, with an ambition of no more than 1.5 °C, invokes the need for herculean mitigation efforts. Such mitigation is necessary to help stem the worst effects of climate change and is arguably nowhere near realization in practice1. Whilst many nations have implemented policies and incentives that move in the right direction, other nations fall behind — notably the United States under its current federal-level perspective on energy policy. The question arises of how proactive policies can be advanced. Social support for policies and technologies aimed at reducing carbon emissions has been shown to be essential for policy and technology implementation2. Concern about climate change has stagnated in recent years worldwide, and is typically lower in the United States than in much of the rest of the world3. Nevertheless, some policies that reduce carbon emissions but that do not focus specifically on climate change or global warming enjoy higher support — for example, policies promoting renewable energy generation4. Focusing on such policies is promising as a politically and environmentally expedient route to carbon emission mitigation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Renewable portfolio standards in the United States.

RAINER LESNIEWSKI/ALAMY STOCK VECTOR

References

  1. Knutti, R., Rogelj, J., Sedláček, J. & Fischer, E. M. Nat. Geosci. 9, 13–18 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Rayner, S. Energy Policy 38, 2617–2623 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Capstick, S., Whitmarsh, L., Poortinga, W., Pidgeon, N. & Upham, P. WIREs Clim. Change 6, 35–61 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Smith, N. & Leiserowitz, A. Risk Anal. 34, 937–948 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Schuldt, J. P., Roh, S. & Schwarz, N. Ann. Am. Acad. Polit. Soc. Sci. 658, 67–85 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Rickard, L. N., Yang, Z. J. & Schuldt, J. P. Glob. Environ. Change 38, 97–107 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Brügger, A., Dessai, S., Devine-Wright, P., Morton, T. A. & Pidgeon, N. F. Nat. Clim. Change 5, 1031–1037 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Stokes, L. & Warshaw, C. Nat. Energy 2, 17107 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Bidwell, D. Environ. Behav. 48, 743–768 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Vaze, P. & Hewett, C. Who Pays? Consumer Attitudes to the Growth of Levies to Fund Environmental and Social Energy Policy Objectives (Consumer Focus, 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Sütterlin, B. & Siegrist, M. Energy Policy 106, 356–366 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Demski, C., Butler, C., Parkhill, K. A., Spence, A. & Pidgeon, N. F. Glob. Environ. Change 34, 59–69 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Energy Prices and Bills — Impacts of Meeting Carbon Budgets (Committee on Climate Change, 2017).

  14. Wüstenhagen, R., Wolsink, M. & Bürer, M. J. Energy Policy 35, 2683–2691 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, Wales, UK

    Darrick Evensen

Authors
  1. Darrick Evensen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Darrick Evensen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Evensen, D. Renewable energy policy: Enumerating costs reduces support. Nat Energy 2, 17106 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2017.106

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2017.106

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing