3. Compensation measures and relevant environmental policies

The qualitative analysis is structured into five parts. First, in this chapter, we provide an overview of the different types of compensation measures applied to reduce costs for energy and transport. Next, we present a summary of measures that have been implemented in the Nordic countries to compensate for the high prices of energy and transport, together with an assessment of coordination attempts between the Nordic counties. In a third step, we analyse the selected compensation measures according to the criteria of the analytical framework. This part of the analysis is presented in chapters 4–7. The aim is to qualitatively assess the distributional effects, impacts on climate, and to analyse coherence with existing policies on climate, energy, and transport. Finally, in the synthesis (chapter 8), we summarise the overall results and discuss alternative measures and designs to address the equity perspective while maintaining incentives to reduce the environmental impact and to potentially improve coherence with existing policies.

In Table 1, we present an overview of the measures that were implemented in each country. As can be seen, financial support measures were most frequently implemented in all four countries, and especially in Norway, and price support somewhat less. Other measures vary in nature and in frequency of adoption. A full description of the measures can be found in Table A1 for households and Table A2 for businesses.

Table 1 Overview of measures implemented in the Nordic countries.

Note: No measures implemented in Iceland

The measures evaluate for each country were selected with respect to budget size, in order to capture the most impactful measures. Measures were also selected to ensure the varied approaches between countries were represented. Table 2 presents the measures selected for the assessments.

Table 2 Selected compensatory measures for analysis.

In the next chapters, selected measures are assessed according to the evaluation criteria presented in the analytical framework.