Sustainable Energy Policy Integrated Assessment – A normative contribution to decision support (SEPIA)

We plan to investigate, at the national level (Belgium), decision support methodologies, procedures, structures and tools for a sustainable energy policy with a specific focus on stakeholder involvement. The goal of the study is to make accessible and discuss the feasibility of important aspects of sustainability assessment (SA) in the context of Belgian energy policy, in order to identify consensus and dissent in the possible SA design among different stakeholder groups, and thus to provide the basis for an SA procedure adapted to the context of Belgian energy governance (being embedded in a multi-level governance structure). The study explicitly acknowledges the socio-political and normative background of the debate on energy issues and choices.

The research methodology is interdisciplinary by attempting to integrate insights on energy system dynamics stemming from engineering, economics, policy sciences, sociology and ethics; while at the same time being attentive to the context-dependent nature of such knowledge (by trying to incorporate stakeholder insights).