The non-use and influence of UK energy sector indicators

This paper presents the results from a case study on the role in policymaking of UK Energy Sector Indicators (ESIs), introduced by the government in 2003. The findings show that the ESIs constituted a very minor element within the broader evidence-base used by policymakers, and that this indicator set and its objectives were poorly known even to central players in the sector. The findings of this research provide further evidence for the observation that scientific knowledge (including evaluations, assessments and indicators) seldom play an instrumental role in policymaking, and are more likely to produce indirect, conceptual and political impacts. The analysis provides a number of tentative conclusions concerning such potential indirect impacts that accrue mainly through processes of dialogue and argumentation both during the preparation of the indicators and after their publication as part of the annual reporting by the UK energy department. The ESIs have played various conceptual and political roles, yet the concrete outcomes in terms of policy change remain to be explored. The conclusions highlight the limitations of rationalist notions of direct, instrumental use in the efforts to understand the role of indicators in policymaking. The paper concludes by three tentative propositions concerning the explanations to the absence of instrumental role of the ESIs, which could be usefully explored in future research: the characteristics of the energy sector; the characteristics of the UK policy culture; and the exceptionality of the ESIs in the general evidence-base of UK energy sector

Indicators: tools for informing, monitoring or controlling?

Today, indicators are produced and used worldwide; across all levels and sectors of society; by public, private and civil society actors; for a variety of purposes, ranging from knowledge-provision to administrative control. While the use of quantitative data as policy support, including policy formulation, has a long history, recent decades have seen the rise of what some have called an ‘indicator industry’ (for example, Hezri and Hasan 2004), focused especially on the production of environmental and sustainability indicators, within a framework variously called ‘governance by numbers' (Miller 2001; Lascoumes and Le Galès 2005; Jackson 2011), ‘management by numbers’ in public service (for example, Hood 2007) or ‘numbers discourse’ (Jackson 2011, p. 23). Indicators are generally expected to enhance the rationality of policymaking and public debate by providing a supposedly more objective, robust, and reliable information base. Indicators can operate as ‘boundary objects’ (for example, Turnhout 2009; Star 2010), catering to both technocratic and deliberative ideals, by combining ‘hard facts’ and modelling with collective reasoning and ‘speculation’. Research and development work in the area has hitherto overwhelmingly concentrated on improving the technical quality of indicators, while the fate of indicators in policymaking and the associated sociopolitical aspects have attracted little attention. This chapter focuses on this neglected area of indicator research, by providing an overview of the multiple types of existing indicators, as well as their use and influence in various venues of policymaking. Empirical examples are drawn mainly from the fields of environmental and sustainability indicators

Pathways towards the nuclear revival in Finland, France, and the UK

Nuclear power is undergoing a revival in a number of countries of both developed and developing world, and is increasingly presented as a solution to the problems of climate change and energy security. This paper analyses the history of and the debates on nuclear power in France, the UK and Finland, all of which are in the process of either planning or building new nuclear plants. The paper traces the history of nuclear power since the early post-War years, distinguishing five distinct phases of development, from the early period of nuclear enthusiasm, through the emergence of doubt and risk in the 70s and 80s, to the recent 'nuclear renaissance'. Emphasis in the analysis is placed on issue framings, argumentative strategies, the role of independent expertise, public opinion and the degree of openness of decision-making. Key similarities, converging trends and differences between the countries are identified and tentative conclusions drawn on the potential stability of the current framing of nuclear energy as a response to the double challenge of climate change and energy security

The rise and fall of the fast breeder reactor technology in the UK: between engineering “dreams” and economic “realities”?

This report explores the evolution of the fast breeder nuclear reactor programmes in the UK, from the period of great promises and expectations in the 1950s and 1960s towards their progressive abandonment in the 1980s and 1990s. The project, of which this report is an element, aims thereby to draw lessons relevant for the current “nuclear renaissance” and medium-term planning on the future of nuclear power. Given that the fast breeder programmes were closely interlinked with the general evolution of nuclear power in the UK, this report includes a fairly detailed historical description of this more general ‘nuclear context’. This primarily chronological description of the evolution of the UK fast breeder programmes provides a basis for a comparison between the evolution of the British and French fast breeder reactor programmes. A central question in such a comparison concerns the lateness of the abandonment of the fast breeder programme in France, as compared to most other countries developing this technology. The cross-country comparison will explore the relative influence of the contextual and historical conditions within which the nuclear technologies have evolved in France and the UK on the one hand, and the ‘universal’ factors common to the evolution of socio-technical systems in general on the other. This exploratory research was based on documentary analysis and eleven interviews of experts involved in, or with knowledge of, the UK fast breeder reactor (FBR) programmes

Le 'tournant participatif' et ses antécédents historiques dans la gouvernance nucléaire en Finlande, en France et au Royaume-Uni

In parallel with the increasing adoption of participatory methods of planning and decision-making in a number of areas of public policy, in several western countries, the governance of nuclear energy has been experiencing its own “participatory turn”. This transformation has been most visible in the area of radioactive waste management, but modest steps towards greater openness and participation have recently been taken also in questions concerning nuclear new-build. The forms that such a “participatory turn” has taken in different countries vary according to national idiosyncrasies such as political culture and institutions in the countries in question. This article examines the evolution of participatory methods and their concrete manifestations in the governance of nuclear power in Finland, France and the United Kingdom – three countries currently constructing or planning to construct new nuclear reactors. The article first presents the most recent and significant examples of the “participatory turn”: the “nuclear debates” under the auspices of the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP) in France, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures in Finland, and the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) in the UK. These experiences are then placed in their historical context of evolving participatory practices in the nuclear sector as well as in other sectors that have pioneered in the adoption of participatory methods in the three countries. The analysis underlines the importance of pressures internal to the nuclear sector – in particular the failures of the techno-rationalistic evaluation and policy approaches – in fostering the emergence of participation, especially in France and in the UK. The Finnish case contrasts with the British and French experiences to the extent that factors external to the nuclear sector and to the country as a whole have been crucial in stimulating the adoption of participatory methods. In all three countries, “epistemic communities” have been crucial agents acting in favour of greater citizen participation. Future research could usefully examine the competition between different epistemic communities, including international communities, as well as the impact of national specificities and cultural factors in the evolution and institutionalisation of participatory practice

Environmental policy evaluation in the service of sustainable development: influence of the OECD Environmental Performance Reviews from the perspective of institutional economics

This thesis examines what consequences, through which pathways, and under which circumstances, does country-level environmental policy evaluation, carried out by an intergovernmental organisation, have for institutional change towards sustainable development. The philosophical and theoretical frameworks of institutional economics are proposed as the lens through which to assess experiences from evaluation research. This is done in order to elaborate a conceptual framework for analysing the approach, the impact and the factors conditioning the influence of environmental policy evaluation in the context of sustainable development. The OECD Environmental Performance Review programme is examined through an in-depth qualitative case study approach. It is found that in spite of engendering relatively modest interest among the public, the reviews increase the legitimacy of environmental policies and authorities, and strengthen a performance-oriented environmental policy emphasising evaluation, monitoring and cost-effectiveness. These impacts operate through four parallel pathways, representing the purposes of learning and accountability. The type and intensity of influence depends on the capacity of the reviews to mobilise key change agents and to be sensitive to the context, as well as on the credibility and political weight of the OECD in the reviewed country. It is concluded that notwithstanding the distance of the prevailing OECD conception of sustainability from the institutionalist principles adopted as the benchmark for the appraisal in this thesis, the reviews contribute meaningfully to sustainable development by redressing asymmetries of power, thereby improving some of the conditions for deliberative democracy

The Impacts of Alternative Policy Scenarios on Multifunctionality

This paper provides first results of the sector model approach to analyze the effects of alternative policy scenarios on the multifunctional role of Finnish agriculture. In terms of environmental non-commodity outputs we focus on nutrient runoffs, landscape diversity and biodiversity. As regards to socio-economic outputs our focus is on direct and indirect agricultural labour force. The results suggest that while partial de-coupling agricultural supports from production is not likely to result in any drastic decline of agricultural production the amount of green fallow will increase considerably. As a result, the agricultural land will become biologically richer. The agricultural labour force is likely to decrease substantially irrespective of agricultural policy.agricultural policy, multifunctionality, sector model, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q18, Q21,

Can indicators fill the gap between science and policy? An exploration of the (non) use and (non) influence of indicators in EU and UK policymaking

This article examines the various roles that indicators, as boundary objects, can play as a science-based evidence for policy processes. It presents two case studies from the EU-funded POINT project that examined the use and influence of two highly different types of indicators: composite indicators of sustainable development at the EU level and energy indicators in the UK. In both cases indicators failed as direct input to policy making, yet they generated various types of conceptual and political use and influence. The composite sustainable development indicators served as “framework indicators”, helping to advocate a specific vision of sustainable development, whereas the energy indicators produced various types of indirect influence, including through the process of indicator elaboration. Our case studies demonstrate the relatively limited importance of the characteristics and quality of indicators in determining the role of indicators, as compared with the crucial importance of “user factors” (characteristics of policy actors) and “policy factors” (policy context)

Technology hype, promises, and expectations: The discussion on small modular reactors in the Finnish newspaper 'Helsingin Sanomat' in 2000-2022

While the construction of collective promises is vital to the success of any techno-scientific innovation, it also entails the risk of overpromising and cycles of hype and disappointment. This article explores the discursive construction of the nuclear sector's latest promise concerning small modular reactors (SMRs), using Finland as an example. It provides a brief overview of the Finnish context of SMR development and analyzes it's coverage in the leading Finnish daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat 2000-2022. Efforts at promise construction have so far been aimed at building legitimacy for SMRs, while strengthening credibility - another key element of successful promise construction - has only just begun. The increasing number of SMR-related articles indicates a growing hype, but the absence of a corresponding 'hype language' suggests that the considerable media attention does not automatically translate into emphatic media coverage and discursive hyping.Die Konstruktion kollektiver Versprechen ist zwar für den Erfolg jeder technologisch-wissenschaftlichen Innovation von entscheidender Bedeutung, birgt jedoch auch das Risiko allzu großer Versprechungen und Hype-Zyklen sowie Enttäuschung. Dieser Forschungsartikel untersucht die diskursive Konstruktion neuester Versprechen im Nuklearsektor am Beispiel kleiner modularer Reaktoren (SMRs) in Finnland. Er gibt einen kurzen Überblick über die SMR-Entwicklung in Finnland und analysiert die Berichterstattung in der führenden finnischen Tageszeitung Helsingin Sanomat zwischen 2000 und 2022. Bisher zielten die Bemühungen darauf ab, die Legitimität von SMRs zu stärken, während die Verbesserung der Glaubwürdigkeit - eine weitere wichtige Voraussetzung für die erfolgreiche Konstruktion von Versprechen - gerade erst begonnen hat. Die wachsende Zahl von SMR-bezogenen Artikeln deutet auf einen zunehmenden Hype hin, aber das Fehlen einer entsprechenden 'Hype-Sprache' legt nahe, dass die beträchtliche Medienaufmerksamkeit nicht automatisch zu einer verstärkten Medienberichterstattung und einem diskursiven Hype führt