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- Agrar- und Ernährungswirtschaft (1)
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Due to environmental impacts from anthropomorphic climate change, countries from around the world are committed to an energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable and sustainable energy sources. The heating and cooling sector represents the largest share of total energy consumption globally, not only for domestic use but also for commercial and industrial purposes of which only 11% is covered by renewable energy. One renewable source, geothermal energy, has the potential to cover much of this demand, particularly heating demand, for the agriculture and food sector. Geothermal use in the agri-food industry continues to be positive overall, yet slow adoption and inconsistent growth have not met its potential as claimed by experts. This trend may be explained by a lack of coherent policy and initiatives from regulating government bodies. This research explores the relationship and the degree of correlation between government support, expressed in terms of policy incentives, and the growth of geothermal energy use in the agri-food sector. Two hypotheses are constructed to test this relationship. The first assumes that government support through policy leads to positive growth in geothermal argi-food, and the second assumes that no relationship exists. The research is a multiple case study of twelve countries from 2010 to 2020. Methods used in this study include Likert summative scale, a statistical and content analysis of secondary sources such as policy documents, laws, and other government acts. The results show a strong correlation between policy incentives and adoption of geothermal energy in agri-food sector. However, only 23% of growth in capacity in case countries can be explained by the levels of government support. Additionally, not all policies hold equal weight in that they are implemented on different levels of governance (global, national, and local). The study observes that between these three levels, national policies have the most correlative effect on geothermal energy adoption, while global and local policies do not seem to have significant influence. These effects vary but the overall market trends are influenced heavily by leading performers. Countries that show the most growth are – Hungary, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Türkiye. They all share strong government support on a national level, targeted policies for geothermal agri-food, and geothermal energy is economically competitive when compared to other forms of energy.