Dataset with 187 cases with their first renewable energy target identified in the "Policy" column. The source for the policy is located in the "Source" column. Because of a change in datasets while this research was being developed, the sources for the policies in two countries could not be retrieved (Norway and Albania). "Target" is 0 when the country has not adopted a renewable energy target by December 2017. "Target" is set to 1 where a target exists in the country. "Year" represents the year for the first target ever adopted in each region, with empty values for non-adopters. "IEA" represents the cumulative membership to energy-related international environmental agreements by the year of target adoption, with data from R.B. Mitchell, International Environmental Agreements Database Project, (2002). "Energy" represents a country's net energy imports (energy use less production) as a percentage of energy use. A negative value in this variable indicates that the country is a net exporter, whereas a positive value indicates that the country is importing part or all of its energy. The data were extracted from the World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.IMP.CONS.ZS). "Similarity" was an index built to represent how similar a country is to another adopter in terms of political and demographic characteristics. Data was used from the Polity Index (https://www.systemicpeace.org/polity/polity4.htm.) and the World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL.; https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ny.gdp.pcap.cd.; https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/GC.REV.XGRT.GD.ZS?view=chart.). "ODAGNI" represents the total aid received by a country as a percentage of gross national income with data from the World Bank https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/DT.ODA.ODAT.GN.ZS ; and the OECD https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=DACGEO#. "Income" represents income levels, with 1 being lower-income countries, 2 lower-middle income countries, 3 upper-middle income countries and 4 higher-income countries with data from the World Bank (https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups.). And "Oil" represents the international price for oil, with data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the EIA (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OILPRICE; https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/RWTCD.htm).

This dataset was used in the publication of "All Roads Lead to Paris: The Eight Pathways to Renewable Energy Target Adoption" in the journal of Energy Research & Social Science. The objective was to compile data on the first national adoption of a renewable energy target in each country to analyze its mechanisms of diffusion (learning, economic competition, emulation, and coercion). The data were compiled for 187 countries for the period ranging from 1975 to 2017. The list of countries was gathered from the Annex I of IRENA's "Renewable Energy Target Setting" report. We used primarily the IEA policies database (https://www.iea.org/policies) to identify the first adoption of a renewable energy target in each country. Other sources were used when data was unavailable in such repository for specific countries. Additionally, we include the data gathered from various sources, as they were used in our paper for measuring variables. The variables in this dataset include: target adoption (or “Target”, from various sources listed in the dataset); year of adoption (or “Year”, from various sources listed in the dataset); cumulative membership to energy-related international environmental agreements (or “IEA”, with data from Mitchell’s International Environmental Agreements Database Project); net energy imports as a percentage of energy use (or “Energy”, with data from the World Bank); a similarity index (or “Similarity”, created with data from the Polity Index, population and GDP per capita from the World Bank, and revenue from the World Bank); official development assistance as a percentage of gross national income (or “ODAGNI”, with data from the World Bank and OECD); income level (“Income”, with data from the World bank); and the international price for oil (“Oil”, with data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis). For more details, refer to the manuscript. Note that in 2018 the “IEA’s policy database” was actually the “IEA/IRENA RE Policies and Measures database”. The links for the sources for renewable energy target adoption for Norway and Albania were lost in the transition from one to the other; all other sources could be retrieved by the authors.

{"references": ["R.B. Mitchell, International Environmental Agreements Database Project, (2002)", "World Bank, Energy imports, net (% of energy use), (n.d.). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.IMP.CONS.ZS.", "Center for Systemic Peace, Polity IV: Regime Authority Characteristics and Transitions Datasets., (2016). https://www.systemicpeace.org/polity/polity4.htm.", "World Bank, Population, total, (n.d.). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL.", "World Bank, GDP per capita (current US$)., (n.d.). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ny.gdp.pcap.cd.", "World Bank, Revenue, excluding grants (% of GDP), (n.d.). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/GC.REV.XGRT.GD.ZS?view=chart.", "World Bank, Net ODA received (% of GNI), Data. (2016). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/DT.ODA.ODAT.GN.ZS", "OECD, GeoBook: Geographical flows to developing countries, (2019). https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=DACGEO#.", "Dow Jones and Company, Spot Oil Price: West Texas Intermediate, (2013). https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OILPRICE.", "US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Cushing, OK WTI Spot Price FOB, (n.d.). https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/RWTCD.htm", "World Bank, World Bank Country and Lending Groups, (n.d.). https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups"]}