Abstract
Following the 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive, Finland, Norway and Sweden have overachieved their 10% renewable transport fuel obligations by 2020, mainly by increasing biofuel consumption. This seems puzzling from explanatory perspectives focused on EU adaptation pressure and changes in domestic politics. These perspectives can partly explain implementation, but the policy context—actual and potential biofuel industry development and ‘green growth’ opportunities—appears central for explaining overachievement of EU obligations. Moreover, the composition and explanatory power of the three perspectives differ. In Norway, the combination of EU adaptation pressure, changes in domestic politics and potential industry development promoted overachievement; by contrast, actual industry development and supportive domestic politics, as well as new opportunities from EU policies, proved more important in Sweden and Finland. These findings speak to the literature on EU implementation, energy policies and leadership.
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Renewable Energy Directive (229/28/EC).
The EU collective achievement of the 10% targets was also probably ‘strongly affected by pandemic-related shifts in transport behaviour’ (EEA, 2021a:17).
This literature has focused on policymaking and international cooperation (rather than implementation) and on actors’ guidance or direction of others (followers).
Data analysed during this study are included in this published article. Due to lack of written sources, we conducted eight interviews with energy authorities and stakeholders in Finland. Interviews are based on confidentiality and are used as background information.
The ‘goodness-of-fit approach’ has been criticized for weak explanatory power, for excluding actor interests and for being static (Treib, 2008). When this approach is applied to implementation in the Nordics, energy interests and preferences and dynamic development are included.
Direct, indirect and induced employment effects (Czako, 2020).
The EU also revised the Fuel Quality Directive requiring that the fuel mix in road transport should be 6% less carbon-intensive by 2020 compared with a diesel/petrol baseline. This was followed up in the National Renewable Energy Plans based on the RED.
Each litre of ‘advanced’ biofuels counts as two in fulfilling the 10% target (RED Art 21(2)).
It also harmonizes the list of feedstocks that would double the count and requires fuel suppliers to report annually on the estimated ILUC emissions from traded biofuels.
In 2016, Sweden double-counted 70% of reported biodiesel; Norway 40%; Finland did not report double-counting.
In 2018, there were 195,000 electric vehicles in Norway. That electric cars accounted for only 1% of total energy consumption from road transport is partly related to the higher efficiency of electric engines.
Interviews, Finland.
Main pressure from the EU came from State Aid Guidelines which increasingly called for phasing out tax exemptions for biofuels.
2.6% and 20% in 2019, 4.3% and 21% in 2020. The system would continue tax exemptions for high-blended biofuels until 31 December 2020.
Interviews, Finland.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers, Mikael Skou Andersen and the NOWAGG team for extremely helpful comments.
Interviews in Finland, 2019–2020
Jukka Heiskanen; Ilkka Toijala: Fortum, 24 Oct. 2019. Tage Fredriksson: Bioenergia, 24 Oct. 2019. Nichola; Sovka Kaitu: Energy Authority, 25 Oct. 2019, Antti Saastamoinen: Verohallinto/Tax Administration, 24 Feb.2020. Nils-Olof Nylund: VTT Research Institute, 24 Feb. 2020. Jukka Saarinen: Ministry for Economy and Employment, 3 March 2020.
Funding
Nordic Energy Research, Nordic Ways to Green Growth (NOWAGG), Norges Forskningsråd, ENABLE: 308789, INCLUDE: 295704.
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Skjærseth, J.B., Eikeland, P.O. & Inderberg, T.H. Biofuelling the energy transition in Nordic countries: explaining overachievement of EU renewable transport obligations. Int Environ Agreements 22, 825–842 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-022-09587-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-022-09587-2