Feed-in Tariff Pricing and Social Burden in Japan: Evaluating International Learning through a Policy Transfer Approach
Feed-in tariff (FiT) policy approaches for renewable energy (RE) deployment are employed in many nations around the world. Although FiTs are considered effective in boosting RE deployment, the issue of increasing energy bills and social burden is an often-reported negative impact of their use. The F...
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doaj-4fa7394322c544eeaa445a16426ae20a2020-11-25T00:49:50ZengMDPI AGSocial Sciences2076-07602017-10-016412710.3390/socsci6040127socsci6040127Feed-in Tariff Pricing and Social Burden in Japan: Evaluating International Learning through a Policy Transfer ApproachYugo Tanaka0Andrew Chapman1Shigeki Sakurai2Tetsuo Tezuka3Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in human survivability, Kyoto University, 1 Nakaadachi-cho, Yoshida, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8306, JapanInternational Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, JapanGraduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in human survivability, Kyoto University, 1 Nakaadachi-cho, Yoshida, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8306, JapanGraduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, JapanFeed-in tariff (FiT) policy approaches for renewable energy (RE) deployment are employed in many nations around the world. Although FiTs are considered effective in boosting RE deployment, the issue of increasing energy bills and social burden is an often-reported negative impact of their use. The FiT has been employed in Japan since 2012, following after many developed countries, and, as was experienced in other nations, led to a social burden imparted on society significantly higher than initial government estimates. Although policy decision making does not necessarily reflect international policy experience, it is still prudent to ask how international policy experiences of social burden increase were considered within the Japanese approach. In this research, we analyzed the transfer process by adapting a conventional model to develop more objective observations than was previously possible, by setting a benchmark for evaluation based on prior international experiences. We identified two streams of policy transfer, each led by different actors; the government and representatives of the National Diet of Japan (Diet). Both actors were exposed to the same experiences, however the interpretation, application to policy development and priority settings employed were vastly different. Although the framework can only assess policy learning processes, we have found that the government undertook a reasonable and rational process toward learning, while, on the other hand, the modified bill developed by the Diet members did not thoroughly derive learnings in the same way, due to cognitive and political reasons, and specifically, the issue of limiting social burden was not addressed.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/6/4/127energy policyfeed-in tariffpolicy transfersocial burdeninternational learning |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Yugo Tanaka Andrew Chapman Shigeki Sakurai Tetsuo Tezuka |
spellingShingle |
Yugo Tanaka Andrew Chapman Shigeki Sakurai Tetsuo Tezuka Feed-in Tariff Pricing and Social Burden in Japan: Evaluating International Learning through a Policy Transfer Approach Social Sciences energy policy feed-in tariff policy transfer social burden international learning |
author_facet |
Yugo Tanaka Andrew Chapman Shigeki Sakurai Tetsuo Tezuka |
author_sort |
Yugo Tanaka |
title |
Feed-in Tariff Pricing and Social Burden in Japan: Evaluating International Learning through a Policy Transfer Approach |
title_short |
Feed-in Tariff Pricing and Social Burden in Japan: Evaluating International Learning through a Policy Transfer Approach |
title_full |
Feed-in Tariff Pricing and Social Burden in Japan: Evaluating International Learning through a Policy Transfer Approach |
title_fullStr |
Feed-in Tariff Pricing and Social Burden in Japan: Evaluating International Learning through a Policy Transfer Approach |
title_full_unstemmed |
Feed-in Tariff Pricing and Social Burden in Japan: Evaluating International Learning through a Policy Transfer Approach |
title_sort |
feed-in tariff pricing and social burden in japan: evaluating international learning through a policy transfer approach |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Social Sciences |
issn |
2076-0760 |
publishDate |
2017-10-01 |
description |
Feed-in tariff (FiT) policy approaches for renewable energy (RE) deployment are employed in many nations around the world. Although FiTs are considered effective in boosting RE deployment, the issue of increasing energy bills and social burden is an often-reported negative impact of their use. The FiT has been employed in Japan since 2012, following after many developed countries, and, as was experienced in other nations, led to a social burden imparted on society significantly higher than initial government estimates. Although policy decision making does not necessarily reflect international policy experience, it is still prudent to ask how international policy experiences of social burden increase were considered within the Japanese approach. In this research, we analyzed the transfer process by adapting a conventional model to develop more objective observations than was previously possible, by setting a benchmark for evaluation based on prior international experiences. We identified two streams of policy transfer, each led by different actors; the government and representatives of the National Diet of Japan (Diet). Both actors were exposed to the same experiences, however the interpretation, application to policy development and priority settings employed were vastly different. Although the framework can only assess policy learning processes, we have found that the government undertook a reasonable and rational process toward learning, while, on the other hand, the modified bill developed by the Diet members did not thoroughly derive learnings in the same way, due to cognitive and political reasons, and specifically, the issue of limiting social burden was not addressed. |
topic |
energy policy feed-in tariff policy transfer social burden international learning |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/6/4/127 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT yugotanaka feedintariffpricingandsocialburdeninjapanevaluatinginternationallearningthroughapolicytransferapproach AT andrewchapman feedintariffpricingandsocialburdeninjapanevaluatinginternationallearningthroughapolicytransferapproach AT shigekisakurai feedintariffpricingandsocialburdeninjapanevaluatinginternationallearningthroughapolicytransferapproach AT tetsuotezuka feedintariffpricingandsocialburdeninjapanevaluatinginternationallearningthroughapolicytransferapproach |
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