LIST OF PANELS

Securing energy supplies while limiting the environmental consequences of energy production and use is a major challenge for today’s energy systems. As a result, energy policy has risen to the top of national and global political agendas, and many countries are transitioning their energy systems. Historically, energy transitions are complex, protracted and path-dependent processes that are mostly opportunity-driven (by price or technological innovation). By contrast, the transitions that are now called for are problem-driven, seeking to attain a low-carbon future. Climate scientists call for ‘rapid decarbonization’ of energy systems, the latest IPCC report even requires the transformation of the world economy within a few years to avoid most serious damage. The report concludes that rapid change is technically possible, but politically unlikely. In the same vein, policy analysts bemoan a lack of progress in climate and energy policymaking. To be successful, comprehensive energy transitions require that powerful political opposition be overcome. But although there is agreement that these processes require a balance of the interests of various stakeholders in light of different energy policy targets (economic and ecological sustainability, energy justice), the politics of energy transitions remain poorly understood.
 
The focus of this panel is on concepts of power in energy policymaking. Who are the powerful public and private stakeholders? Where are power asymmetries? How do they delay or even stop energy transition processes? Are there power brokers? Even though these are “classical” political science questions, they have a specific relevance in the energy sector where the cost of structural change is concentrated mainly on a small number of actors whose structural position is pivotal in capitalist economies (e.g., electric utilities, oil corporations). Because the power distribution among participants in the policy process shapes societal responses to climate challenges, an improved understanding of power relations and resources can contribute to better assess the political feasibility of policies aimed at accelerating low-carbon transitions.
 
By bringing together scholarship on power in energy policymaking, this panel seeks to disentangle why rapid climate action is unlikely and how it might become more likely. The concentration of power is not constant across time and space, and the successful exercise of power depends on factors such as institutions and agency. This provides fertile ground for comparative studies on the role of power in energy policymaking.

This panel advances the study of the politics of energy transitions by focusing on perspectives of power. It welcomes both conceptual and empirical contributions from the fields of Political Science, Public Administration, Policy Studies, and Science and Technology Studies, that focus on power relations and their effects on energy policymaking. In particular, we seek to discuss papers that revolve around the following research questions: What are the material, institutional and ideational roots of power relations that shape energy policymaking? How do institutions condition power structures, and what are the implications for energy policies across countries? What role do power relations play with regard to the social acceptance of energy policies and infrastructure projects? (How) do ongoing energy transitions shift power resources and actor constellations? Which actors are most influential in energy policymaking, and which strategies do they use?
 
While we encourage scholars to provide a clear and consistent theoretical foundation for their approach, the panel aims at conceptual plurality and a fruitful dialogue between different perspectives. In terms of methodologies used for empirical studies, we welcome diversity (quantitative analysis, text or discourse analysis, comparative approaches, case studies…). Empirical perspectives might focus on the level of nation-states, but also on the local, regional or global level. Finally, we encourage scholars to pay particular attention to the policy implications of their research, as the panel aims at contributing to the ongoing dialogue between policy scholars, scientists in other disciplines, and policy practitioners.