Expanding Bioenergy in Europe

In English Despite apparently favourable conditions for investment in the bioenergy sector provided by sustained high oil prices and a multitude of policy support measures throughout the EU that are ostensibly intended to create improved economic conditions, many industrialists and investors are still apparently wary of engagement. National policy interventions intended to support and to expand the bioenergy industry are often uncertain and variable, and there have been many negative market experiences as a result of policy shifts. Moreover, there are cases where industry and/or finance sector actors appear to have invested unwisely within reigning economic and policy support regimes. As a first output of a body of broader research, this paper investigates and compares two cases of interactions and dysfunction between national policy interventions and industrial bio-energy strategies in Sweden and Germany. The paper tests a policy evaluation framework upon the two case studies in order to shed light on why problems have arisen and how similar problems might be avoided in the future. The framework tested here is to be further developed and applied to other analyses in the future.