Energy Policy Lighthouses

The report presents a taxonomy of energy policies categorized by their goal (innovation, diffusion, or reconfiguration) and instrument (direct intervention, market adjustment, or social norms). It highlights specific global examples, such as China's energy-efficiency targets for large enterprises, the US ARPA-E program, and the UK's Climate Change Act, to demonstrate how diverse policy portfolios can accelerate the energy transition. Key findings emphasize the importance of political feasibility, the role of financing in capital-intensive sectors, and the underutilization of social norms as a driver for change.

• The report proposes a policy categorization framework based on three goals—early-stage innovation, diffusion of new technologies and practices, and reconfiguration of societies and markets—and three instrument types: direct intervention, market adjustment, and adjustment of social norms.
• China's Top Energy-Consuming Enterprises programme has significantly improved industrial energy efficiency by imposing mandatory targets on the largest energy users, covering nearly 70% of final industrial energy use.
• The US Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has funded over 800 projects with approximately $2 billion in R&D, resulting in 76 new companies and over $2.9 billion in private-sector follow-on funding as of March 2019.
• Competitive bidding and electricity auctions in Brazil, India, and South Africa have successfully replaced feed-in tariffs to drive down the cost of renewables; for example, Brazil added 20GW of wind power through this mechanism.
• The UK's Climate Change Act of 2008 established a legally binding framework for emissions reductions, contributing to a 44% decrease in GHG emissions below 1990 levels by 2018 and a reduction of coal generation from 40% in 2012 to 5% in 2018.
• Carbon pricing mechanisms in Canada and Sweden are highlighted as essential for internalizing the social cost of emissions; Sweden's carbon tax reached SEK1,180 (€114) per metric ton of CO2 in 2019, the highest in Europe.
• The Western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) in the US and Canada has delivered over $800 million in economic benefits and reduced renewable energy curtailment by more than 976,000Mwh between 2014 and October 2019.
• India's clean cooking initiatives, including the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), provided LPG connections to 80 million families as of September 2019, though sustained use remains a challenge due to recurring costs.

APA

World Economic Forum (2020). Energy Policy Lighthouses. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/energy_policy_lighthouses.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Energy Policy Lighthouses. 2020. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/energy_policy_lighthouses.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Energy Policy Lighthouses |date=February 2020 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/energy_policy_lighthouses.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2020energy, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Energy Policy Lighthouses}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2020}, month = feb, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/energy_policy_lighthouses.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }