Between a rock and a hard place. Assessing policy coherence of energy, climate, and biodiversity policies in relation to hydropower developments in Slovenia.

Sammanfattning: This research is exploring policy coherence of energy, climate, and biodiversity policies on the case study of new hydropower developments in the Republic of Slovenia. A qualitative case-study approach utilising policy document analysis and interviews was chosen to conduct this research. This analysis revealed that policy objectives were coherent within policy sectors but not across policy sectors on an EU and national level in Slovenia. At the level of policy instruments fewer conflicts were identified which is partly due to the use of exemption clauses. Such provisions may allow hydropower developments, even those that are bad from a nature conservation perspective. The research identified several key barriers to policy coherence. These require targeted institutional, economic, and political collaboration and tools to identify and manage emerging conflicts and potential trade-offs in policy design and implementation. Policy recommendations address inadequacies in cross-sectoral ministry collaboration, capacity and resource shortcomings, lack of comprehensive long-term strategies in energy and conservations, as well as aspects such as transparency and public engagement. In order to enable policy coherence, decoupling our economy from energy use and considering the possibility of not realising all technological potential for hydropower developments, are suggested. The outcome of this research indicates, that achieving policy coherence of energy, climate, and biodiversity policies related to hydropower developments in Slovenia proves challenging. Further research is needed to understand policy coherence in other national contexts and for a variety of renewable energy sources in order to determine how policies can better support climate change mitigation and at the same time halt biodiversity loss.