Title of Dissertation: national renewable energy policy

Journal of European Integration
38, no. 3 
(2016): 279-294.
39
Evenett, Simon J., and John Whalley. "18. Resist green protectionism–or pay the price 
at Copenhagen." The Collapse of Global Trade, Murky Protectionism and the Crisis: 
Recommendations for the G20 (2009): 93-98. 
40
Aggarwal, Vinod K., and Simon J. Evenett. "A fragmenting global economy: A 
weakened WTO, mega FTAs, and murky protectionism." 
Swiss Political Science Review
19, no. 4 (2013): 550-557.

---

40 
the global financial crisis.
41
This suggests that WTO rules are hard to constrain 
governments’ use of protectionist measures.
Green protectionism is one of the forms of murky protectionism. It refers to the 
cases of governments to justify the protectionist measures by using environmental 
concerns. These policies seem like environmental policies but are driven by the desire to 
promote domestic industry against foreign competitors. As an example of green 
protectionism, Evenett and Walley took national stimulus packages on “green” 
spending.
42
The U.S. stimulus legislation included funding for advanced battery systems, 
which can benefit only the U.S. manufacturers. Government procurement of 
environmental goods from domestic providers can be argued as an example of green 
protectionism. Erixon suggested that new sustainability criteria for biofuel production 
would be used to protect local producers from foreign competitors in Europe, which 
would be one of the forms of green protectionism.
43
As for renewable energy, both the traditional protectionist measures and murky 
protectionist measures have observed in recent years. China’s industrial policies to 
promote renewable energy have led trade frictions with the U.S. and Europe.
44
The U.S. 
imposed tariffs on the solar modules from China, and the EU implemented minimum 
price and a quota policy to protect domestic industry from China’s “unfair” trade 
41
Aggarwal, Vinod K., and Simon J. Evenett. "Industrial policy choice during the crisis 
era." 
Oxford Review of Economic Policy
28, no. 2 (2012): 261-283.
42
Evenett, Simon J., and John Whalley. "18. Resist green protectionism–or pay the price 
at Copenhagen." The Collapse of Global Trade, Murky Protectionism and the Crisis: 
Recommendations for the G20 (2009): 93-98.
43
Erixon, Fredrik. "The rising trend of green protectionism: Biofuels and the European 
Union." ECIPE Occasional Paper 2 (2012). 
44
Carbaugh, Robert J., and Max St Brown. "Industrial policy and renewable energy: 
Trade conflicts." 
Journal of International and Global Economic Studies
(2012): 1-16.

---

41 
practices. A number of countries have introduced domestic content requirements, which 
require renewable energy developers to use domestically-produced facilities.
Lewis argues that renewable energy protectionism has caused by inherent 
conflicts between renewable energy support and the global trade regime.
45
Since 
economic rationale was necessary to have political supports for renewable energy 
policies, especially after the global financial crisis, countries use protectionist measures 
to promote domestic renewable energy manufacturing. The environmental rational of 
these industrial policies was not enough to be justified under the global trade rules. 
Therefore, the policies have led conflicts with international trade rules.
Previous research showed that green protectionism has risen after the global 
financial crisis. However, it is less understood why green protectionism has increased in 
recent years although environmental policies and renewable energy policies have been 
implemented in several decades. Lewis suggested fundamental conflicts between 
renewable policies and trade rules, but many traditional renewable energy policies have 
been implemented to create demand of renewable energy sources rather than to directly 
support industry. The increase of protectionist policies is a recent trend. The cause of this 
current trend needs to be investigated to better understand the mechanism of green 
protectionism. 
45
Lewis, Joanna I. "The Rise of Renewable Energy Protectionism: Emerging Trade 
Conflicts and Implications for Low Carbon Development."