"Green regulation": a quantification of regulations related to renewable energies and climate change in Spain and France
Working Paper Series no. 937. The achievement of an environmentally sustainable growth model is a fundamental issue in economic analysis and is a substantial part of the public debate. However, a different question is at what pace this concern has been translated into regulation, fostering or hindering the development of new markets or “green” technologies. This paper proposes a rigorous empirical study identifying and quantifying, through text analysis, all regulations related to four different subject blocks associated with “green growth” and climate change (renewable energies, sustainable transportation, pollution and energy efficiency) over the period 2000-2022 for Spain (at the national and regional levels) and France. This research thus constructs a database in panel data format. The results show that regulation is diverse by subject matter, reflects significant regional diversity and has increased over time, especially in more recent years. From the comparison of French and Spanish regulations on renewable energy matters, it can be concluded that Spain shows a greater volume (and a greater regional disaggregation) in its regulation. This database could help develop future research projects on the impacts of “green” regulation on certain economic or institutional variables (such as “green” innovation or environmental conflicts).
The achievement of an environmentally sustainable growth model, the development of renewable energies or the adoption of energy efficiency measures are nowadays fundamental issues in economic analysis and are a substantial part of the public debate. However, while there may be an increased social awareness of these issues, a different question is at what pace these social concerns have been translated into regulation, fostering or hindering the development of new markets or “green” technologies.
This paper proposes a rigorous empirical study identifying and quantifying, through text analysis, all regulations related to four different subject blocks associated with “green growth” and climate change (renewable energies, sustainable transportation, pollution and energy efficiency) over the period 2000-2022. The analysis is carried out firstly for Spain, studying both national and regional regulations. This research thus constructs a database in panel data format. Among other results, we identify 3,482 regulations related to renewable energies, 783 regulations dealing with sustainable transportation, 108 on pollution management and 5,116 related to the measurement (and management) of energy efficiency. In addition, we have conducted a study of French regulations specifically for the case of renewable energies. Our analysis identifies the 56 norms with force of law that have regulated solar energy, wind energy and hydrogen in France.
Based on data from 2000 to 2022, the results show that the regulation flow (i.e. new regulations adopted each year) reflects significant regional diversity and has increased over time, especially in more recent years, after a certain standstill during the Great Recession. From the comparison of French and Spanish regulations on renewable energy matters, it can be concluded that Spain shows a greater volume of regulation flow (partly explained by greater regional decentralisation). Figure 1 summarizes these results for the case of hydrogen as a renewable energy source since 2008.
This database could help develop future research projects on the impacts of “green” regulation on certain economic or institutional variables (such as “green” innovation or environmental conflicts).