This study analysed the approriateness of 42 criteria that were developed by the German government („Monitoring Energie der Zukunft“ (BMWi, BMU 2012)) concerning the monitoring framework of the German energy transition.
First, national and international standard monitoring criteria were discussed and applied to the case of the monitoring of the energy transition. The 42 criteria of the German government were operationalised and analysed in the study, which lead to the conclusion that the different criteria serve the monitoring purpose to different extends. Moreover, other official documents concerning the energy transition were reviewed (Energiekonzept 2010, Eckpunkte 2011) in order to identify the goals of the German government behind the energy transition, and thus its nature. On this basis, a reduced number of criteria was developed with a clear definition of each step of the monitoring process and the functions of the different stakeholders.