Local Energy Governance : Opportunities and Challenges for Renewable and Decentralised Energy in France and Japan

Local Energy Governance: Opportunities and Challenges for Renewable and Decentralised Energy in France and Japan examines the extent of the energy transition taking place at a local level in France and Japan, two countries that share ambitious targets regarding the reduction of GHG emissions, their share of renewable energy and their degree of market liberalization. This book observes local energy policies and initiatives and applies an institutional and legal analysis to help identify barriers but also opportunities in the development of renewable energies in the territories. The book will highlight governance features that incubate energy transition at the local level through interdisciplinary contributions that offer legal, political, sociological and technological perspectives. Overall, the book will draw conclusions that will also be informative for other countries aiming at promoting renewable energies. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of energy policy and energy governance.

Magali Dreyfus is a Researcher at CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research). She is based at CERAPS (Center for European Research on Administration, Politics and Society) – Lille University in France. Formerly, she was a Visiting Fellow at GRIPS (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies) and a Research Fellow at United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), in Tokyo, Japan.

Aki Suwa is a Professor at the Faculty of Contemporary Society, Kyoto Women’s University (KWU), and an Instructor at the College of Policy Science, Ritsumeikan University. Her main responsibility at these institutions is to conduct research on environment and sustainable policy and approach, based on community and regional analysis in Japan and in Asia. Prior to her appointment she was a Research Fellow at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS). Her research focuses on how environmental understanding facilitate policy formulation, and how this subsequently influences the degree of the policy implementation on ground. Prior to working in UNU-IAS, she completed a doctorate from the University College London, the University of London. She also holds a MSc degree in the Environmental Technology and Policy from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine.