Polycentricity in local energy governance: understanding the role of municipalities in the non-emergence of renewable energy cooperatives in Wallonia.

Cobut, Loïc
(2022) Journée d’étude - La fabrique des politiques climatiques locales — Location: Ssciences Po Bordeaux (10.March.2022)

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  • Cobut, LoïcUSL-B
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Abstract
Abstract Municipalities from Wallonia (Belgium) offer an interesting framework to analyze the professionalization of local energy public action through the emergence of polycentric forms of local energy governance. Indeed, the study of Walloon municipalities lead to distinguish two models of local energy public action. A first model represents local energy public action where local authorities have included non-state actors such as renewable energy cooperatives, local sections of the “Transition Town network” or wind-turbine opposition movements in their governance model. A second model rather represent local energy public action where local authorities act as a local government, centered on the ideas of its local elected representatives and the institutional capacity of its administration services. In order to best describe those two models, this study has used a theoretical background based on the concept of polycentric governance. In this paper, features of polycentric governance are presented. They include local action, mutual adjustment, trust, experimentation, site-specific knowledge and overarching rules (Jordan et al., 2018 ; Dorsch and Flachsland, 2017). In this paper, I argue that those two models help to understand the processes of professionalization of local energy public action. In this first model, local authorities work with non-state actors to design and implement local energy policies through institutionalized participative mechanisms such as consultative councils for energy or Covenant of Mayor’s pilot committees. By doing so, local authorities benefit from external local energy expertise which enhance local authority services’ professionalization and lead to stronger local institutional capacity. It is in this model that features of polycentric governance are most developed. In the second model, local authorities are not willing to develop working relationships with non-state actors as they prefer to design and implement local energy policies in a more governmental manner, by referring to the ideas of the local elected representatives from the local majority. By doing so, local authorities cut themselves from external local energy expertise and curbs local authority services’ professionalization which is left to rely on weak local institutional capacities. It is in this model that features of polycentric governance are least developed. Interestingly, empirical data also show that discourses of climate delay (Lamb et al., 2020) from local authorities are more present in the second model than in the first model. This suggests that the more local energy public action is polycentric and professionalized, the least local authorities share discourses of climate delay. This study finds itself in a larger debate about how to think and analyse the diversity of local political spaces, also called territorial differentiation (Douillet, Faure et Négrier, 2015). It contains, on the one hand, scholars who explore the questions of local contrasts and diversities, which would lead to consider a multiplicity of local configurations, and, on the other hand, scholars who look for standardisation of actions (Douillet, Faure et Négrier, 2015) and/or translocal diffusion (Loorbach et al., 2020). This presentation is based on a field work in 18 municipalities of Wallonia covered through 59 semi-direct interviews and on a review of local media content. Data were collected between April 2020 and October 2021. The analysis of these data has been conducted through the use of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) methods and the use of thematic analysis. Ultimately, this paper allows to question models of local governance and local government when it comes to consider the question of professionalization of local energy public action. It sheds light on the role of local authorities and non-state actors in this professionalization process. The use of the concept of polycentric governance allows to look at local energy public action from an innovative angle. However, its use throughout this study allows me to underline its limits, one of them being its weak support to formulate useful operational recommendations for (local) decision makers.
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Cobut, L. (2022). Polycentricity in local energy governance: understanding the role of municipalities in the non-emergence of renewable energy cooperatives in Wallonia. Journée d’étude - La fabrique des politiques climatiques locales, Ssciences Po Bordeaux. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/164160