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Governments provide policy incentives to increase adoption rates of electric vehicles and achieve sustainability goals. This paper investigates the impact of UK financial purchase incentives on new registrations of electric fleets whilst moderating for change in gross domestic product (GDP). We use a unique dataset of new registrations of electric fleets in the UK for a 20-year period (1999–2019). Our results show that financial purchase incentives positively impact new registrations of electric fleets, and this effect is positively moderated by GDP change. Marginal analysis reveals three categories of adopters that purchase electric fleets at different levels of policy and GDP change: insensitive adopters, standard adopters, and sensitive adopters. Overall, financial incentives may be more effective in fostering the adoption of electric fleets when set to levels that are conditioned on the level of GDP change. In particular, financial purchase incentives are most effective when GDP change and incentives are above their average level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2020 renewable energy targets have stimulated the debate on the efficacy of policy schemes. Discussion on the efficacy of these schemes has largely been on the growth in the share of renewable energy, and less on the alignment of policies to the needs of investors. However, research in this field has emphasized that ‘who is investing’ is as relevant as ‘how much is invested’. This study aims to identify and better understand ‘who is investing’, by researching more than 1000 investments by 646 firms that produce electricity with Dutch onshore wind energy. These firms received renewable energy subsidies under Dutch policy schemes between 1996 and 2013. The regression results highlight the type of investors that invest more in wind energy. The results show that firms with a higher wind energy capacity are firms that have more investment experience; are latecomers to the wind industry; have an industrial background in the electricity or wind industry; are medium- or large-sized and are limited liability companies. Data on investments, combined with a document analysis, show that changes in policy schemes affect the perceived risks and expected returns of investors, and that these changes influence the amounts invested and the type of investors in wind energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the transition to a more sustainable world, the development of sustainable technologies needs to be accompanied by promoting the legitimacy of the technologies. Consumers that perceive a technology as desirable and appropriate are more likely to adopt it. Organizations can collaborate to enhance the legitimacy of new technologies. While previous research has emphasized the importance of collaboration in the field of sustainability, it has not studied collaborative efforts of organizations aimed at achieving legitimacy of sustainable technologies. The contribution of this paper is therefore to analyze the role of inter-organizational alliances in creating legitimacy for a sustainable technology. The paper contributes to the literature by analyzing how alliances create three types of legitimacy: technology-sourced market legitimacy, technology-sourced social legitimacy and technology legitimacy. It focuses on the case of bio-plastics, which is emerging as a sustainable technology in the chemical industry. The analysis is based on a database containing information on 105 alliances in the field of bio-plastics over the period 1990–2013. The results show that alliances aim to promote technology-sourced market and social legitimacy by providing access to the sustainable technology of a partner, by collaboratively developing a sustainable technology, or by providing the technology of a partner with access to customers and production capacity. Alliances promote technology legitimacy by relying on positive externalities, by exercising their signaling role, and by acting as institutional entrepreneurs. The paper concludes that there are differences between alliances that create technology-sourced market and social legitimacy on the one hand, and technology legitimacy on the other hand. The first type of alliances are often bilateral alliances between for-profit companies that produce and market sustainable technologies. In contrast, alliances that stimulate technology legitimacy are multilateral alliances that operate in the pre-competitive stage of the value chain and involve not-for-profit organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaboration between firms is important to stimulate the transition to a more sustainable society. This special volume shows that collaboration is indeed one of the preferred forms of governance to manage relations between firms in a sustainability context. Collaboration enhances sustainable benefits by creating legitimacy of sustainable technologies, reducing waste and improving environmental and social performance of firms. The institutional environment, in particular environmental laws and regulations, has a beneficial impact on collaboration and relationship management in sustainable supply chains. Two studies in this special volume show, however, that stringent environmental regulations may hinder economic performance and result in outsourcing to foreign suppliers with potential detrimental effects for environmental performance. These negative effects can be overcome by firms that invest in sustainable innovation. This special volume also shows that eco-innovation leads to sustainable benefits, such as lower greenhouse gas emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Profitable business models for value creation and value capture with smart grid services are pivotal to realize the transition to smart and sustainable electricity grids. In addition to knowledge regarding the technical characteristics of smart grids, we need to know what drives companies and consumers to sell and purchase services in a smart grid. This paper reviews 45 scientific articles on business models for smart grid services and analyses information on value in 434 European and US smart grid pilot projects. Our review observes that the articles and pilots most often discuss three types of smart grid services: vehicle-to-grid and grid-to-vehicle services, demand response services, and services to integrate renewable energy (RE). We offer a classification of business models, value creation and capture for each of these services and for the different actors in the electricity value chain. Although business models have been developed for grid-to-vehicle services and for services that connect RE, knowledge regarding demand response services is restricted to different types of value creation and capture. Our results highlight that business models can be profitable when a new actor in the electricity industry, that is, the aggregator, can collect sufficiently large amounts of load. In addition, our analysis indicates that demand response services or vehicle-to-grid and grid-to-vehicle services will be offered in conjunction with the supply of RE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article presents evidence on opportunistic behaviour by network operators in the liberalized British, Dutch and French electricity industries. The evidence is supplied by 303 regulatory decisions on dispute resolutions for the period 2002–2010. We observe a significant difference in how the regulators resolve disputes between network operators and producers on the one hand, and between network operators and consumers on the other hand. Consumers are negatively affected by the opportunistic behaviour of network operators, mainly by paying tariffs that are higher than is allowed by law. Policy recommendations focus on the protection of consumer interests in competitive electricity markets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• We develop a theoretical framework on barriers and enablers of adoption by firms. • We review 53 articles on the adoption of alternative fuel vehicles by firms. • Firms adopt for efficiency, environmental, economic, and strategic gains. • We identify operational, economic, knowledge, and organisational policy barriers. • The impact of policy and emotions and their interaction requires further research. This paper synthesises and analyses factors affecting firms' adoption of Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs). Our theoretical framework on Firm Adoption of Sustainable Technologies (FAST) integrates several technology adoption models with the attribute of 'perceived risk'. On the basis of the FAST theoretical framework, we review and analyse 53 studies on the adoption of AFV fleets. We find that the primary enablers for firms to adopt are linked to efficiency, environmental, economic, and strategic gains. The primary barriers to adoption are limited knowledge, organisational policies, as well as operational and economic factors. Overall, the AFV fleet adoption literature suggests that large firms are more likely to become early adopters, which is largely due to their willingness to accept financial risks in exchange for first mover advantages. We suggest further research avenues particularly on policy and emotions and on the linkages between these two factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]