Forest-based bioenergy policies in five European countries: An explorative study of interactions with national and EU policies B.H. Lindstad a,* , T. Pistorius b,1 , F. Ferranti c,2 , G. Dominguez d , E. Gorriz-Mifsud e,h , M. Kurttila f , V. Leban g , P. Navarro d , D.M. Peters b , S. Pezdevsek Malovrh g , I. Prokofieva e , A. Schuck c , B. Solberg a , H. Viiri f , L. Zadnik Stirn g , J. Krc g a Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway b Chair of Forest and Environmental Policy, University of Freiburg, Tennenbacherstrasse 4, D-79106 Freiburg i.Br., Germany c European Forest Institute e Central European Regional Office, Wonnhaldestrasse 4, 79100 Freiburg, Germany d Forest Sciences Center of Catalonia (CTFC), Ctra. de St. Llorenc ¸ de Morunys, km 2, 25280 Solsona, Spain e Forest Sciences Center of Catalonia (CTFC), Sant Pau Historical Site, St. Leopold pavilion, c/St. Antoni M. Claret 167, 08025 Barcelona, Spain f Natural Resources Institute Finland, P.O. Box 68, 80101 Joensuu, Finland g Universitiy of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Forestry and Renewable Forest Resources, Ve cna pot 83, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia h European Forest Institute - Mediterranean Regional Office (EFIMED), Sant Pau Historical Site, St. Leopold pavilion, c/St. Antoni M. Claret 167, 08025 Barcelona, Spain article info Article history: Received 4 December 2014 Received in revised form 14 April 2015 Accepted 25 April 2015 Available online xxx Keywords: National energy wood policy European Union Renewable Energy Directive Horizontal interlinkages Vertical interlinkages Policy layers abstract In this explorative study, we compare national policies affecting production and use of forest-based bioenergy in five European countries: Finland, Germany, Norway, Slovenia and Spain. Our methodological approach combines horizontal and vertical policy inter- action with three policy layers: policy objectives, policy instruments and thematic ele- ments in implementation. Great variations are found in national bioenergy policies, with complex interlinkages revealed to national renewable energy and forest policies (hori- zontal dimension) and to EU policies (vertical dimension). Horizontally, the national bio- energy objectives are closely linked to forest policy objectives and, in Finland, also to renewable energy objectives. Policy instruments promoting bioenergy demand interact to various degrees with both renewable energy and forest policies, while supply side in- struments, as well as implementation aspects, interact most closely with forest policies. Vertically, highest degree of interactions with EU polices are in this study revealed for policy objectives and instruments, less so for implementation. It is concluded that consideration of policy layers are useful for increasing the understanding of the complexity in horizontal and vertical policy interactions, and thus an important basis for * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ47 67 23 16 93; fax: þ47 64 96 58 01. E-mail address: berit.lindstad@nmbu.no (B.H. Lindstad). 1 Current address: UNIQUE forestry and land use GmbH, Schnewlinstraße 10, 79098 Freiburg, Germany. 2 Current address: Nature & Society Consultancy in Research and Publishing. Dreikoenigstrasse 47, 79102 Freiburg, Germany. Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect http://www.elsevier.com/locate/biombioe biomass and bioenergy 80 (2015) 102 e113 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2015.04.033 0961-9534/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.