Policy learning in UK renewable energy policy: a methodology

Despite the need and potential for renewable energy (RE) to make a significant contribution to the decarbonisation and reduced fossil-fuel dependence of economies, RE capacity in the UK has developed slowly compared with some other EU states, with persistent under-achievement against national and EU targets. This signals the need for detailed re-examination of the reasons for these ‘failures’ and, in particular, the extent, nature and constraints on ‘policy learning’ within UK RE policy. Policy learning has emerged in recent years as an innovative way of exploring the roles of knowledge acquisition and use in policy change. The aim of this paper is to examine the concept of policy learning and how this can be translated into a methodology for analysing the development of UK renewables policy. The paper examines different forms of policy learning (instrumental, conceptual and political) and their relationship to other drivers of policy change, for example power or past policy. This is then utilised to develop a methodology for an analysis of policy learning based upon textual analysis and semi-structured interviews with key government and non-state actors.