IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bas/econth/y2024i3p267-280.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Polycentric Approach to the Green Energy Transition in Bulgaria

Author

Listed:
  • Dimitar Sabev

Abstract

Ostrom’s polycentric model for the governance of social systems has been gaining popularity as an alternative approach to the low-carbon energy transition in recent years. This article considers its potential application to three issues in Bulgaria’s green energy transition: finding substitutes for coal-based electricity production in the Maritsa-East lignite complex, providing new employment opportunities for workers affected by the transition, and understanding the broader social impacts of moving away from the traditional hierarchic model in the energy sector. It is important to note that while polycentric organizing is intended to support low-carbon solutions, it could also serve the interests of coal energy actors, who may prioritize short-term gains over the long-term public interest. Overcoming inertia is a major challenge for adopting the polycentric principle as part of Bulgaria’s industrial policy, particularly in implementing decentralized low-carbon energy solutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Dimitar Sabev, 2024. "A Polycentric Approach to the Green Energy Transition in Bulgaria," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 3, pages 267-280.
    • Handle: RePEc:bas:econth:y:2024:i:3:p:267-280
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://etj.iki.bas.bg/storage/app/uploads/public/671/d15/194/671d15194930b642834373.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Henrik Egbert & Teodor Sedlarski & Aleksandar B. Todorov, 2023. "Foundations of Contemporary Economics: Elinor Ostrom and Common Pool Resources," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 5, pages 554-571.
    2. Jens Lowitzsch & Florian Hanke, 2019. "Renewable Energy Cooperatives," Springer Books, in: Jens Lowitzsch (ed.), Energy Transition, chapter 7, pages 139-162, Springer.
    3. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2011. "An international comparison of four polycentric approaches to climate and energy governance," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3832-3844, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Goldthau, Andreas & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2012. "The uniqueness of the energy security, justice, and governance problem," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 232-240.
    2. Daniel Fitzpatrick & Rebecca Monson, 2022. "Property rights and climate migration: Adaptive governance in the South Pacific," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(2), pages 519-535, April.
    3. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Martiskainen, Mari, 2020. "Hot transformations: Governing rapid and deep household heating transitions in China, Denmark, Finland and the United Kingdom," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    4. Tomasi, Silvia, 2022. "The (Non) impact of the Spanish “Tax on the Sun” on photovoltaics prosumers uptake," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    5. Galaz, Victor & Crona, Beatrice & Österblom, Henrik & Olsson, Per & Folke, Carl, 2012. "Polycentric systems and interacting planetary boundaries — Emerging governance of climate change–ocean acidification–marine biodiversity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 21-32.
    6. Qi, Ye & Lu, Jiaqi & Liu, Tianle, 2024. "Measuring energy transition away from fossil fuels: A new index," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    7. Chunhong Sheng & Yun Cao & Bing Xue, 2018. "Residential Energy Sustainability in China and Germany: The Impact of National Energy Policy System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-18, December.
    8. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Van de Graaf, Thijs, 2018. "Building or stumbling blocks? Assessing the performance of polycentric energy and climate governance networks," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 317-324.
    9. de Wildt, Tristan E. & Chappin, Emile J.L. & van de Kaa, Geerten & Herder, Paulien M., 2018. "A comprehensive approach to reviewing latent topics addressed by literature across multiple disciplines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 2111-2128.
    10. Van de Graaf, Thijs & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2014. "Thinking big: Politics, progress, and security in the management of Asian and European energy megaprojects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 16-27.
    11. Pasimeni, Maria Rita & Petrosillo, Irene & Aretano, Roberta & Semeraro, Teodoro & De Marco, Antonella & Zaccarelli, Nicola & Zurlini, Giovanni, 2014. "Scales, strategies and actions for effective energy planning: A review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 165-174.
    12. Sarah Feron, 2016. "Sustainability of Off-Grid Photovoltaic Systems for Rural Electrification in Developing Countries: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-26, December.
    13. Sumit Vij, 2023. "Polycentric disaster governance in a federalising Nepal: interplay between people, bureaucracy and political leadership," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(4), pages 755-776, December.
    14. León-Vielma, J.E. & Ramos-Real, F.J. & Hernández Hernández, J.F., 2022. "The collapse of Venezuela's electricity sector from an energy governance perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    15. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2013. "A qualitative factor analysis of renewable energy and Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) in the Asia-Pacific," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 393-403.
    16. Martin, Nigel & Rice, John, 2015. "Improving Australia's renewable energy project policy and planning: A multiple stakeholder analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 128-141.
    17. Marcel J. Dorsch & Christian Flachsland, 2017. "A Polycentric Approach to Global Climate Governance," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 17(2), pages 45-64, May.
    18. Connor P. Spreng & Benjamin K. Sovacool & Daniel Spreng, 2016. "All hands on deck: polycentric governance for climate change insurance," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 129-140, November.
    19. Martin Jänicke, 2015. "Horizontal and Vertical Reinforcement in Global Climate Governance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-18, June.
    20. Wang, Qingri & Hu, Hongwei & Hu, Rumei, 2024. "Local government behavior in rural construction land marketization in China: An archetype analysis," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities
    • P48 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bas:econth:y:2024:i:3:p:267-280. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Diana Dimitrova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ikbasbg.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.