The Politics of Sustainability: Energy Efficiency, Carbon Pricing, and the Circular Economy

Abstract

The clean energy transition can be achieved by increasing the supply of clean energy or by reducing the consumption of fossil fuels. This chapter investigates the political consequences of the latter, which includes regulations to increase energy efficiency, carbon pricing, or measures to promote a circular economy. First, we provide an overview of the most commonly used policy instruments to slow down fossil fuel consumption. Second, we introduce a framework to understand the (geo)political consequences of these policies. We argue that their distributional consequences and their design vary and thus may not all generate the same kind of global political risks.