A review of industrial energy and climate policies in Japan and Sweden with emphasis towards SMEs

The aim of this paper is to present a review of energy end-use policy instrument in Japan and Sweden towards the industrial sector from 1990 to 2014, with special emphasis on industrial SMEs. From the results presented some general conclusions can be made, (1) results show that the cost-effectiveness differs substantially between the evaluated programs, and (2) that from a governmental point of view, subsidies towards energy audit programs seem like the most cost-effective policy. In addition to this (3) the results from the review also stress the importance of a clear strategy for every energy program on how the program is going to be evaluated, ex-ante or ex-post, and how the performance of the program is to be measured. This structure should be included from the start of the program.