By Kari Williamson
The ACTION star is a graphic representation of six policy categories deemed “essential” for the acceleration of renewable energy deployment.
“It is based on global best practices,” says Hans-Jørgen Koch, Chairman of the IEA-RETD, in which 9 countries cooperate. “Applying the ACTION star guides policy makers in choosing the right ingredients for successful policies.”
He adds: “We are well aware that the transformation of the energy system needs to speed up, for several reasons.
“Lately, the IEA calculated that any dollar of investment that we don’t invest now in low-carbon solutions will in fact cost us US$ 4.30 later to compensate for the increased emissions. This is only one of a number of reasons why we need to take immediate action!”
The ACTION star consists of 6 policy types:
- Alliance building: Build alliances and reach agreements among policy makers and with relevant stakeholders including industry members, consumers, investors, and others;
- Communicating: Communicate knowledge about renewable energy resources, technologies and issues to create awareness on all levels, address concerns of stakeholders, and build up the needed work force:;
- Target setting: Clarify the goals, set ambitious targets on all levels of government, and enact policies to achieve goals;
- Integrating: Integrate renewables into policy-making and take advantage of synergies with energy efficiency;
- Optimising: Optimise policy frameworks by building on own policies or other proven policy mechanisms and adapting them to specific circumstances; and
- Neutralising: Neutralise disadvantages in the marketplace, such as misconceptions of costs and the lack of a level playing field.
IEA-RETD was officially launched in September 2005 with five founding members. Current members of the IEA-RETD are Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, and United Kingdom.