Evaluation in an emergency: Assessing transformative energy policy amidst the climate crisis

Sam Hampton, Tina Fawcett, Jan Rosenow, Charles Michaelis and Ruth Mayne

Governments  must rapidly drive down carbon emissions in an increasingly complex system, and this comes with inherent risks. Failing to observe, share, and act on policy-based  learning  risks  wasting public money and slowing the response to the climate emergency. Appropriate and timely evaluation can ameliorate these risks, helping to increase the pace and scale of innovation, accelerate  energy  policy making, and improve delivery. In  this  Commentary,  we address the following question: how can policy evaluation help accelerate energy system transformation in the context of the climate emergency? After setting out current trends in the energy system and evaluation, we make detailed recommendations for evaluators and for policy professionals. We conclude that thoughtful, timely, and well-integrated evaluation is more important than ever.

Banner photo credit: Alireza Attari on Unsplash