Introduction

Controlling greenhouse gas (GHG) emissionsGreenhouse gas emissions is paramount to mitigating climate change. Toward this end, industrialized countries have undertaken measures to incentivize investment in and operation of renewable energy (RE) technologiesRenewable energy technologies such as hydroRenewable energy technologieshydropower, solarRenewable energy technologiessolar, and windRenewable energy technologieswind power. Given the power sector’s contribution to GHG emissions, facilitating a transition to less-polluting forms of electricity generation is a promising pathway to a socially desirable outcome. However, the deregulated nature of the power sector in most OECDOrganisation for economic co-operation and development countries means that the decisions of private power companies responsible for adoption of generation technologies may not always be aligned with social welfareSocial welfare. Consequently, the externalitiesExternality of GHG emissionsGreenhouse gas emissions from power generation need to be taken into account by policymakers when proposing environmental control. In this chapter, we provide an overview of environmental externalitiesExternality in the power sector, briefly discuss the deregulated nature of the power sector, outline the structure of this book, and mention the topics that are within the scope of this book.