Lessons from the UK on Urgency and Legitimacy in Energy Policymaking

Abstract

This chapter uses the recent history of UK energy policymaking to illustrate wider themes in this book. In the face of the urgency of climate change, the central question for policymaking is how to combine radical action with strengthened legitimacy and consent. The UK case shows how it may be possible to start travelling along this difficult road, but that subsequently it is easy to over-emphasise urgency at the expense of legitimacy and thus risk overall failure.