Energy policy addresses how energy is utilized within a country. Examples of such policies would be those which promote low-carbon, clean technologies, improve vehicle fuel economy and provide funding for renewables.

Establishing and implementing an energy policy requires collaboration among all parties involved. Statistical agencies play an especially crucial role by providing essential data needed to inform policy decisions and evaluate them.

Policy-Making Process

Countries develop and implement various energy policies according to national priorities and interests, which may include decarbonization, system reliability, resource diversification, technology export potential, economic costs and electricity access.

Internationally, governments often align themselves towards common goals like decarbonization and climate action through agreements like Paris Agreement or Sustainable Development Goals; however, individual nation policies can still be affected by political pressures or stakeholder influence on policymaking processes.

This research investigates the nature of governance and energy policy making as well as goals and priorities in OECD nations using Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) methodology. This approach helps identify key influences that impact policy cycle stages such as agenda setting and tool formulation by exploring responsible bodies at each step. In turn, this provides an understanding of an efficient policy-making process which could potentially be improved to ensure more sustainable results.

Policy Development

Development of energy policies usually necessitates employing various skillsets. Depending on the goal of policy-making, analysts (statisticians, economists and operational researchers), engineers, technical energy specialists as well as various stakeholders from diverse societal sectors and local communities as well as from private industry may all need to come together.

Nation-by-nation policymaking processes vary, as do national energy targets and evaluation schedules. For this research, data from Australia, United Kingdom, US, and Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada was utilized for conducting qualitative content analyses on their governance and energy policy processes.

This QCA shows a lack of robustness in policymaking processes across nations assessed and that policy tools fail to properly consider social considerations. While aspirational goals in national energy documents often refer to such concerns, no safeguards exist to make sure these goals come to fruition.

Policy Implementation

Implementation entails the implementation of policies which will then be monitored for their effectiveness, often through legislative requirements, audits, surveys or modelling exercises. It is crucial that this step takes place so as to meet its intended goal and meet objectives set out by policies.

Energy policies can be implemented using various tools, including building energy codes, mileage standards and commuting policies. These may be developed by institutions ranging from local governments to international trade organizations; sometimes these tools are established directly by governments as formalized through strategies, action plans, Acts & Laws or transnational agreements.

QCA has long been used to evaluate social phenomena, from governance structures and energy policy-making processes, to OECD governance and sustainability factor priorities within nations – this data suggests that social factors in energy policy tend to take lower priority than environmental and economic considerations in these nations.

Policy Monitoring

Policy monitoring encompasses setting objectives, setting inputs, estimating outputs, measuring results and impact and then monitoring accordingly. This process often includes defining indicators to track against observed outcomes and exploring normative and explorative scenarios in order to gauge potential energy policies’ impacts.

Even though monitoring practice has long been recognised as an essential governance activity, little research has been conducted on its specifics (Tosun 2012). This might seem puzzling given that policy monitoring may involve similar political dynamics and institutional challenges as other parts of policy formation – like agenda setting and formulation – while no specific research on monitoring has ever been conducted either.

Understanding how to design and implement an appropriate policy monitoring mechanism requires an appreciation of the intricate interrelations among functions, actors and governance levels; three perspectives found across literatures may help facilitate such understandings of everyday policy monitoring practices as well as academic understandings of these practices.