Author : Fang Zhang
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (128 download)
Book Synopsis How Governments Mobilize Domestic Finance for Innovation: the Case of Domestic Clean Energy by : Fang Zhang
Download or read book How Governments Mobilize Domestic Finance for Innovation: the Case of Domestic Clean Energy written by Fang Zhang and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Financing is a well-recognized barrier to the development and deployment of clean energy technologies. Lack of information, lack of familiarity with new technologies, and the limited track records of renewable developers have all been causes of investor reluctance in clean energy. Although the early 2000s witnessed rapid growth in clean energy investment, global clean energy investments have stalled since the 2009 financial crisis. Despite numerous worldwide clean energy policies implemented since then, the rate of investment has still not fully recovered and has limited the pace of annual added renewable energy capacity growth globally. In 2018, $348 billion was deployed into renewable energy sectors, which was dwarfed by the $600 billion in fossil fuel finance from the top 33 banks globally in the same year. Although the rapid decline of the capital costs of renewable energy partially limits the need for new renewable energy investment, it is still worth examining why more finance has not been directed to renewables. The central purpose of this dissertation is to investigate how governments mobilize financial resources for renewable energy deployment and which policies are most effective to incentivize financial flows to clean energy sectors. Four cases studies (China, Germany, India, and the United States) were performed to answer this question. The dissertation firstly identifies the main actors in the financing of renewable energy, particularly clarifying who are typically the first movers, followers, and laggards. The dissertation then evaluates whether state-ownership of the financial system puts a country in a better or worse position to mobilize finance for renewable energy development. The necessary ingredients for National Development Banks (NDBs) to mobilize finance are identified. Lastly, the dissertation illuminates the major barriers that hinder renewable energy financing and examines how government policies best mitigate these barriers and which policies fail to mobilize finance for renewables. The main findings are that: 1) The first movers in renewable energy financing are patient (e.g. do not require immediate returns from investment) and can provide low-interest finance. They tend to be public actors (such as NDBs) or private investors who are particularly motivated by concern for the environment. 2) Finance for renewable energy is easier to mobilize in environments that leverage pre-existing and strong relationships between lenders and borrowers, as well as lenders and lenders, and foster mutual knowledge sharing. 3) NDBs can serve as effective vehicles to advance finance mobilization for national renewable energy deployment by working as a policy coordinator but NDBs require the precondictions of market-creation policies in order to facilitate finance mobilization for renewable energy deployment successfully. 4) Traditionally, high capital and development costs have stymied the growth of renewable energy. As of today, however, such costs have now generally fallen low enough not to inhibit lending from financial institutions. Non-cost barriers, such as high risks related to siting, grid connection, information barriers, and policy hurdles do continue to persist. 5) Several policy instruments and their design details that are required to effectively moblize finance are identified in the dissertation.
