Energy Systems

Almost entirely dependent on energy imports from outside, cities are the key driving force behind the demand for energy, which is an essential resource for industries, households and services. Up to now, the Chilean energy system has met Santiago’s needs satisfactorily. However, development trends in the current energy system pose significant risks to its future. Using selected energy indicators and a distance-to-target approach, a detailed sustainability analysis of the energy sector in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago and of Chile as a whole was conducted. Risks to the sustainable development of the energy sector were detected, such as increasing concentration in the energy sector, import dependency on fossil fuels and rising CO2 emissions due to energy consumption. Alternative options were assessed for a more sustainable development of the megacity Santiago within the frame of the national Chilean energy system, such as enhancement of energy efficiency and greater use of renewable energies

Beyond inputs and outputs: Process‐oriented explanation of institutional change in climate adaptation governance

Climate adaptation is a growing imperative across all scales and sectors of governance. This often requires changes in institutions, which can be difficult to realize. Explicitly process‐oriented approaches explaining how and why institutional change occurs are lacking. Overcoming this gap is vital to move beyond either input‐oriented (e.g., capacity) or output‐oriented (e.g., assessment) approaches, to understand how changes actually occur for addressing complex and contested governance issues. This paper analyses causal conditions and mechanisms by which institutions develop in climate adaptation governance. It focuses on urban climate governance through an in‐depth case study of Santiago, Chile, over a 12‐year period (2005–2017), drawing on primary and secondary data, including 26 semistructured interviews with policy, academic, and civil society actors. It identifies and explains a variety of institutional developments across multiple levels (i.e., programmatic, legislative, and constitutional), through a theory‐centric process tracing methodology. This reveals a multiple‐response pattern, involving several causal mechanisms and coexisting institutional logics. Findings suggest that although adaptation may be inherently protracted, institutions can nevertheless develop in both related and novel directions. Overall, the paper argues for a new research agenda on process‐oriented theorizing and analysis in climate and environmental governance