An important first step is to identify the most relevant stakeholders within the business community, the scientific community and in civil society, and to understand the issues/aspects that these actors are concerned with.
The integration of key non-governmental stakeholders in participatory processes of policy-making and implementation can help address their concerns, make use of their expertise and resources, find compromises for actual or potential conflicts, and abolish barriers to RE/EE.
At the same time, participation should also be possible for ‘ordinary’ citizens who are not part of an organized group, but who are directly or indirectly concerned with the roll-out of RE/EE. This can be done ‘upstream’, in the consultation phase, or ‘downstream’, in cases when a public referendum is foreseen.
Membership of civil society in institutions, such as advisory councils
The development, implementation and review of public strategies and policies are often accompanied by the establishment of advisory councils and other mechanisms for gathering input. The members of these bodies are usually more or less handpicked by the government, and their role is to inform political decision-makers and provide practical insights from their different perspectives. Therefore, the membership of such advisory councils should reflect the most relevant societal stakeholders and go beyond the various relevant government ministries to also include representatives of the different sectors of civil society, the business community and/or the scientific community. The way that members are nominated and how they conduct their work should be based on the principles of transparency and objectivity, to safeguard their credibility and acceptance in the eyes of the government and the public.
Mexico: Advisory Councils on RE and EE
The Mexican government has established advisory councils for both special programmes on RE and EE:
- On RE: the Advisory Council for the Development of Renewable Energy (Consejo Consultivo para las Energías Renovables)
- On EE: the Advisory Council for the Sustainable Use of Energy (Consejo Consultivo para el Aprovechamiento Sustentable de la Energía)
Both advisory councils are led by the Ministry of Energy (SENER) and are tasked with monitoring and evaluating progress toward implementing the country’s energy policy. However, there are significant differences in how their membership is composed. The Advisory Council for the Development of Renewable Energy comprises a wide range of representatives from government, industry and civil society.
Table: Membership of government ministries, agencies, industry and civil society representatives in Mexico's Advisory Council for the Development of Renewable Energy
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By contrast, the Advisory Council on the Sustainable Use of Energy is largely a scientific advisory body, which is composed of six independent scientific experts in the field of EE who are also members of the Mexican “National System of Researchers” (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores).
Both advisory councils should be considered good practice in that they include a broad range of diverse actors representing government ministries, energy agencies, business associations, civil society and science, and therefore bring a variety of perspectives into the development and implementation of RE and EE policies in Mexico.
Public participation in strategy and policy-making through processes
Another option for integrating civil society perspectives into the development or review of a strategy or policy is to organise public consultation processes (which may or may not be followed by a formal decision). Here, participation is open to all and not a priori restricted to certain groups or determined by the government. Factors crucial to the success of this participation approach are the timely publication of the relevant documents and the nature of the possibilities that are available for discussion and comment on them.
Brazil: Public participation in the National Plan on Climate Change and in energy planning and policy-making
The National Plan on Climate Change prescribes that civil society be involved in its review via public consultation forums, such as the National Conference on the Environment or the Brazilian Climate Change Forum. Similarly in the field of energy planning, public consultations with civil society and businesses in the energy sector are used to adapt the National Energy Plan and the Ten-Year Expansion Plans and improve the accuracy of their predictions[1]. Public consultations are also used for policy development: the 2001 Energy Efficiency Law established the public participation of civil society in consultations and hearings regarding the setting and revision of minimum energy efficiency standards, i.e. the maximum consumption of the respective equipment and machinery. Brazil can be seen as an example of good practice for providing channels for public participation in a wide range of energy-related matters.
Public participation in the development of the South African Integrated Resource Plan
South Africa’s central energy planning document, the Integrated Resource Plan was developed with the active participation of civil society stakeholders in two rounds. In a first round of participation, registered stakeholders received the first draft published by the DoE in early 2010 for comments in order to discuss the parameters underlying the modelling scenarios. This commenting period was complemented by a workshop for stakeholders. This revised version led to the energy expansion plan covering the 2010-2030 timeframe. The second round of participation was designed similarly: stakeholders received the draft of the revised IRP and modelling results, and the DoE hosted a series of stakeholder workshops on the draft IRP[2]. The IRP – particularly with regards to RE – changed significantly between the first DoE draft and the adjusted final version: the envisioned capacity from renewable energy in 2030 was increased significantly (from 11.4 to 17.8 GW) while the assumed total power demand in 2030 was lowered[3]. The public participation in the IRP process is another example of good practice for being an integral part of the regular further development of the plan. The shift towards a greater role for RE illustrated in the figure below is a clear indicator for the power of public participation in the case of South Africa.
''': South Africa's "Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity: 2010-2030" (2011):<span style="color:#336699"</span>files/IRP2010_2030_Final_Report_20110325.pdf http://www.energy.gov.za/IRP/irp files/IRP2010_2030_Final_Report_20110325.pdf]
Avoiding stalemates and policy capture
Including opponents or sceptics of RE/EE in participation processes can play a key role in preventing or overcoming political stalemates. Such processes foster transparency regarding the anticipated impacts of a strategy and provide the opportunity to discuss the concerns that some stakeholders might legitimately have – e.g. regarding the trade-offs and opportunity costs of RE/EE, their technical challenges or crowding out effects. In this way stakeholders are more likely to develop ownership of (parts of a) strategy and to support its implementation. However, such consultation processes are generally not followed by a formal decision and therefore do not provide formal veto powers to any societal stakeholders. This means that any legitimacy for an argument in favour of or against RE/EE must arise from its validity. At the same time, provisions should be made so that well-organized and politically influential vested interests cannot ‘hijack’ the process, and simply impose their viewpoints on policy-makers. This can only be achieved through a substantial degree of representation and transparency, with clear criteria for access and participation, clear rules for proceedings and decisions, the systematic publication of both inputs and outputs, and the possibility to review and if necessary adjust all of these.
South Africa: Integration of stakeholders in the implementation of the Energy Efficiency Strategy
The South African EE Strategy integrates stakeholders, particularly from the business community, in the development of the implementation plan on EE in different sectors and also involves them in the implementation process afterwards. This cooperation with non-government stakeholders acknowledges the importance of the latter for streamlining EE measures in their sectors and their potential to act as multipliers (e.g. in the case of business organisations advocating EE measures to their members). It further aims to reduce opposition to the strategy goals and to encourage participation in its implementation. The South African EE Strategy distinguishes between primary and secondary stakeholders[4]. Primary stakeholders also play significant roles in the development of the strategy, its implementation, the regulation of policies and the monitoring and verification of sectoral EE measures[5]. Sectoral EE measures detail the implementation plan for the industry and mining sectors, and specify which governmental and non-governmental stakeholders are responsible for the implementation of measures in different areas. The figure below illustrates which stakeholders participate in the different areas of EE policy implementation. While South Africa’s EE strategy has had its implementation problems, the methodical approach it took to identify which civil society groups should be involved in the various aspects of EE policy and then integrate them into the implementation process should be seen as an example of good practice.
[INSERT FIGURE: Responsibilities of primary and secondary stakeholders under the South African Energy Efficiency Strategy. INSERT FIGURE. Source:"Energy Efficiency Strategy of the Republic of South Africa," p. 25 (2005): http://www.energy.gov.za/files/esources/electricity/ee_strategy_05.pdf]
