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Since the UK introduced a Climate Change Act (CCA) in 2008, similar legislation has followed in a number of states, with each having a slightly different take. What unites these examples is that they all represent framework legisl...
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Since the UK introduced a Climate Change Act (CCA) in 2008, similar legislation has followed in a number of states, with each having a slightly different take. What unites these examples is that they all represent framework legislation that aims to facilitate climate change mitigation by creating continuous policy processes whereby mechanisms for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are developed and implemented. This article is concerned with the extent to which they are living policy processes or rather symbolic gestures. We analyse seven European CCAs with regard to GHG emission reduction targets, planning/implementation mechanisms, and feedback/evaluations prescribed by the laws. These three features correspond with three aspects of climate policy integration (CPI): interpretations of CPI as a norm; CPI as a process of governing; CPI as a policy outcome. We show that CCAs address all three aspects of CPI and constitute living policy processes, although to varying extents. However, CCAs are also policy processes in that they are part of a political system, affected by political forces external to the legislation, positively and negatively. Key policy insights CCAs can provide a normative basis for policymaking on climate change at the national level, especially through quantitative emission reduction targets. Whilst CCAs can bring some stability and predictability to policymaking on climate change (mainly because legislation is more difficult to amend or remove than policy strategies), they are still vulnerable to political developments. Most CCAs lack either short/medium-term (Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Sweden) or long-term (Austria) targets. Given EU Member States' aim to decarbonise in the next three decades and the Paris Agreement's global goal of pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C, states need to find ways to guide this process. One approach could be the inclusion of short-term, medium-term and long-term targets in their CCAs. Since sanctioning mechanisms are lacking across all the CCAs analysed here, it is not clear what will happen if legally binding targets are not met. Just as it is difficult to imagine speed limits and speed cameras without accompanying penalties, it is hard to imagine how CCAs without sanctions can deliver decarbonization.
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As climate change impacts result in more extreme events (such as droughts and floods), the need to understand which policies facilitate effective climate change adaptation becomes crucial. Hence, this article answers the question:...
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As climate change impacts result in more extreme events (such as droughts and floods), the need to understand which policies facilitate effective climate change adaptation becomes crucial. Hence, this article answers the question: How do governments and policymakers frame policy in relation to climate change, droughts, and floods and what governance structures facilitate adaptation? This research interrogates and analyzes through content analysis, supplemented by semi-structured qualitative interviews, the policy response to climate change, drought, and flood in relation to agricultural producers in four case studies in river basins in Chile, Argentina, and Canada. First, an epistemological explanation of risk and uncertainty underscores a brief literature review of adaptive governance, followed by policy framing in relation to risk and uncertainty, and an analytical model is developed. Pertinent findings of the four cases are recounted, followed by a comparative analysis. In conclusion, recommendations are made to improve policies and expand adaptive governance to better account for uncertainty and risk. This article is innovative in that it proposes an expanded model of adaptive governance in relation to risk that can help bridge the barrier of uncertainty in science and policy.
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While the scientific evidence for climate change grows, the policy responses have so far had little or no impact on the build-up of emissions. Current trends in emissions are adverse. The paper considers why the disconnect between...
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While the scientific evidence for climate change grows, the policy responses have so far had little or no impact on the build-up of emissions. Current trends in emissions are adverse. The paper considers why the disconnect between science and policy exists and, in particular, why the Kyoto Protocol has achieved so little. Some contributing factors considered are: the focus on carbon production rather than consumption in the architecture of Kyoto; the flaws in the analysis presented in the Stern Report (notably on the impacts of climate change on economic growth, on the costs of mitigation, and on discounting); and the political economy of the choice of policy instruments, the politics of the rents that arise, and the technology bias. The challenges facing the Copenhagen conference are noted, and it is concluded that, with a recasting of the economics of climate change, the prospects for closing the gap between the science and policy are grim.
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On July 25, 1997, the US Senate passed what has become known as the “Byrd– Hagel Resolution” (Senate Resolution 98 of the 105th Congress; Byrd–Hagel Resolution 1997). Named after its two primary sponsors—Democratic Senator Ro...
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On July 25, 1997, the US Senate passed what has become known as the “Byrd– Hagel Resolution” (Senate Resolution 98 of the 105th Congress; Byrd–Hagel Resolution 1997). Named after its two primary sponsors—Democratic Senator Robert Byrd from West Virginia and Republican Senator Chuck Hagel from Nebraska—its original language was dropped in the Senate hopper on June 12th. The language emerged without amendment (but with a preamble added) from the Foreign Relations Committee on July 21st; and the measure passed with 64 cosponsors by a vote of 95–0 on July 25th. Clearly, there was unusually swift action on a resolution with unambiguous support across the entire Senate.
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This paper provides a summary and a critical survey of the methodologies and results of the literature on the economics of adaptation. We divide the literature into two broad areas of research. First, we examine the studies that a...
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This paper provides a summary and a critical survey of the methodologies and results of the literature on the economics of adaptation. We divide the literature into two broad areas of research. First, we examine the studies that analyse adaptation from a bottom-up perspective. Second, we introduce the studies that examine adaptation using a top-down approach. The first group of studies investigates cost and benefits of adaptation at the sectoral, regional and global level. The second group includes theoretical literature on the relationship between mitigation and adaptation as well as emerging insights from some global Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs), which have recently been extended to include adaptation as an alternative and complementary policy option to mitigation. This latter development has raised issues that represent new challenges for the research community. In particular, understanding how to integrate the vast amount of information provided by the bottom-up literature on climate change impacts and adaptation into global models is paramount. Another challenge is to improve the sectoral and regional coverage of information on adaptation costs and benefits. Currently, much of the information is limited to specific sectors and drawn primarily from developed country contexts. In addition, uncertainty and irreversibility are very marginally tackled by adaptation studies. Finally, the role of adaptation in international climate change negotiations, which is presently growing in importance, remains largely unexplored.
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Climate change will have significant impacts on agriculture. Farmers and the agri-food supply chain will have to adapt, while at the same time providing food for a growing population. Agriculture can be expected to contribute to m...
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Climate change will have significant impacts on agriculture. Farmers and the agri-food supply chain will have to adapt, while at the same time providing food for a growing population. Agriculture can be expected to contribute to meeting targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, although the sector did not figure significantly at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. The ongoing or expected international climate change, food security and trade commitments present both challenges and opportunities for the agri-food sector, as agriculture is one of the few sectors that can contribute to both mitigation and sequestration of carbon emissions. Accounting for agriculture's carbon footprint is a key issue given the possibility of including agriculture in greenhouse gas reduction commitments. However, the range and variability of estimates, and the complexity and uncertainty of accounting for indirect land use change remain to be resolved. Policies will play a role in enhancing the ability of agriculture to adapt to climate change, in reducing greenhouse gases, while contributing to other environmental goals. There is an urgent need to consider whether an international agreement would be the channel to enable appropriate national policy actions to be taken in the context of a global framework to reduce emissions from agriculture in the most efficient and least-cost manner.Digital Object Identifier http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-692X.2010.00174.x
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This paper assesses the importance of a strategic legal framework for action against climate change, using the UKClimate Change Actas an example. Passed in 2008, theClimate Change Actis one of the earliest and most prominent examp...
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This paper assesses the importance of a strategic legal framework for action against climate change, using the UKClimate Change Actas an example. Passed in 2008, theClimate Change Actis one of the earliest and most prominent examples of framework legislation on climate change. It contains several innovative features that have since been replicated in other framework laws. We use stakeholder interviews to assess the strengths of the Act and whether it has succeeded in creating an integrated, informed and forward-looking policy process. Respondents felt that the Act had established a firm long-term framework with a clear direction of travel. However, they differed on whether the Act provided sufficient policy certainty and protection against political backsliding. Most respondents felt that the Act had changed the institutional context and the processes through which climate change is addressed. As a result, interviewees believe that the Act has helped UK climate policy to become better informed, more forward looking and better guided by statutory routines. Key policy insights A strong legal framework with statutory targets, processes and institutions can be an important tool for effective climate change governance. A broad-based framework law can make action on climate change more predictable, more structured and more evidence-based. The UK Climate Change Act is a model for such framework legislation, with important institutional features that have already been emulated in other framework laws. The main such features are statutory short-term and long-term emissions targets, a new independent advisory body (the Committee on Climate Change), clear accountability and an iterative approach to adaptation planning.
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There is increasing awareness of gender disparity in relation to the negative effects of climate change. With that increasing awareness comes greater focus on how national and international policy frameworks are not sufficiently g...
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There is increasing awareness of gender disparity in relation to the negative effects of climate change. With that increasing awareness comes greater focus on how national and international policy frameworks are not sufficiently gender-responsive and do not sufficiently consider the disparity between genders. Climate change has a greater impact on those sections of the population that are most reliant on natural resources for their livelihoods, and these sections are often from poorer groups. At the same time, those same sections of the global population usually have the least capacity to respond to natural hazards, such as droughts, landslides, floods and hurricanes. The majority of the world's poor are women and consequently, those women commonly face higher risks and greater burdens from the impacts of climate change. Where women are denied equal participation in decision-making processes and labour markets, these inequalities often prevent women from contributing meaningfully to climate-related planning, policy-making and implementation. Governments and international organisations need to develop new frameworks, policies and legislation, particularly in relation to the provision of cleaner energies which involve cooperation with women to ensure that realistic solutions are introduced and implemented.
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Several studies have been using quantified consensus within climate science as an argument to foster climate policy. Recent efforts to communicate such scientific consensus attained a high public profile but it is doubtful if they...
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Several studies have been using quantified consensus within climate science as an argument to foster climate policy. Recent efforts to communicate such scientific consensus attained a high public profile but it is doubtful if they can be regarded successful. We argue that repeated efforts to shore up the scientific consensus on minimalist claims such as humans cause global warming are distractions from more urgent matters of knowledge, values, policy framing and public engagement. Such efforts to force policy progress through communicating scientific consensus misunderstand the relationship between scientific knowledge, publics and policymakers. More important is to focus on genuinely controversial issues within climate policy debates where expertise might play a facilitating role. Mobilizing expertise in policy debates calls for judgment, context and attention to diversity, rather than deferring to formal quantifications of narrowly scientific claims.
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This analysis is designed to show how policy network theory can be used to gain insights into the politics of climate change and climate policy. A version of policy network theory is set out based on the idea that policy networks ...
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This analysis is designed to show how policy network theory can be used to gain insights into the politics of climate change and climate policy. A version of policy network theory is set out based on the idea that policy networks are created and sustained by interdependencies among political actors. This theory identifies the main types of resources that are exchanged, and the main kinds of political actors that are likely to engage in resource exchange in the field of climate policy. Policy network theory is then used to unpack the main strategic options that are available to governments. The analysis concludes by listing 10 specific implications for governments that want to take more effective action against climate change while avoiding significant political damage.
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