The role of space in the energy-environment nexus: a policy-making perspective

Energy and Environment are two very complex and interconnected systems. Both are extremely important for economic development and for societies' quality of life. The natural environment favours and supports the production of energy resources. Non-renewable primary energy sources, such as oil, coal and natural gas are the results of long natural processes which take millions of years before the resources can be extracted and used. These resources have been and they are still fundamental drivers of economic process and progress, however their production and consumption pose highly costs to natural environment and ultimately on human beings. Oil and coal are the world's leading fuels: oil accounts for a third of global energy consumption and coal equals to 28.1 % (BP report, 2017) but they are also the main responsible for climate change (COP21). Renewable energies are clean resources which are naturally produced such as sunlight, wind, geothermal heat, etc., they represent an important opportunity for energy-shifting, fundamental for the mitigation of climate change. Renewable resources contribution to world energy production is growing, but it is still negligible with respect to the traditional resources. This thesis aims at contributing to the debate on the link of energy and environment from a political economy point of view. From one perspective, energy production and consumption are dangerous for the environment and policy decision makers need to incentivise internalization of energy externalities. On the other hand, the transition towards renewable resources need to be facilitated by appropriate policy instruments promoting sustainable energy paths. Conventional resources represent a threat for the environment, renewables energies are a concrete clean alternative. On the fossil fuel side, policy interventions are designed to address environmental damages; on the renewable energies side policy makers need to incentivize the development and diffusion of clean technologies. The thesis is structured in three different chapters representing three independent essays. On one hand the three chapters share the same topics of interest and they are linked to one another; on the other hand, they could be singularly read, as autonomous papers. The common topic shared by the three chapters is the analysis of the relationship between energy technologies and environmental aspects, for which this research would like to support the policy decision makers in designing the appropriate policy instruments. Further, the three chapters present empirical techniques adequate to answer the case-to-case research questions.