The ‘Energy Transition’ is a Dutch government initiative that seeks to achieve a struc-tured transition to sustainable energy systems. While current energy policy is con-cerned with securing targets for the year 2010, the Transition programme focuses spe-cifically on the period thereafter. The Dutch government is keen to share this approach with international partners and create alliances for the future.
At the request of the Interdepartmental Programme on Energy Transitions (IPE) and in collaboration with the Clingendael International Programme (CIEP), CE Delft has car-ried out a pilot study to identify potential European partners for an Energy Transition approach at a strategic political and international level. The project’s guidance commit-tee comprised Messrs. F. Vollenbroek (IPE), F. Dietz (IPE), F. Berkhout (Free Univer-sity of Amsterdam) and E. Breunesse (Shell).
The procedure adopted was to draw up a series of selection criteria, which were used to perform a quick scan of the 25 EU countries with respect to energy innovation. This led to selection of 6 countries, which were then subjected to a more detailed SWOT analysis. Representatives of these countries (Denmark, Germany, Poland, Spain, Swe-den and the United Kingdom) were then invited to a workshop in The Hague on 24 No-vember 2006 to launch joint actions and/or coalitions, using the SWOT analysis as a background document.