California in the greenhouse: regional climate policies and the global environment

This thesis explores how climate policy is developing at sub-national or “regional” scales of decision-making. It considers local-global connections on both the science and the politics of climate change by investigating four main research questions as they pertain to regional climate action: What triggers regional policy action on global climate change? What arguments and lines of evidence underlie the policy discourse? How do “winning” arguments gain salience? How does regional action make a difference to broader scale climate policy? The research is conducted through one in-depth case study in California. It shows that action on climate change mitigation in California is enabled in part by past action in related policy arenas of air pollution control and energy policy within a multilevel, social-practice environmental governance framework. More recently the emergences of a comprehensive policy framework is triggered by a unique policy window where a change in California’s leadership capitalised on the void of federal policy to reframe arguments for state-level action on climate change. The case study identifies two dominant policy frames leading to a third master frame or meta-narrative in the period 2004-6: i) climate change as a problem of regional environment risk; ii) mitigation policy as a “win-win” for the local economy and the environment; iii) climate change as a regional policy issue. This period represents a paradigm shift from a previous dominant framing that characterised climate change as predominantly a national rather than a state policy issue. The case study shows that today’s dominant policy frames rely upon a process of co-construction that combine insights from expert and local knowledge, thus intertwining “facts” and “ values in the policy process. “Winning arguments” or policy frames gain salience through a relatively open policy process, which permits an array of non-governmental actors -- including social movement organisations, business organisations and experts -- to operate in the outer-periphery of the policy process and generate ideas in a timely way to influence policy decisions. The research underscores the power of localising problems of global environmental change and their solutions, of taking up climate change as a regional policy issue where solutions can be tapered to reflect regional contexts and norms. It shows that there is a relatively larger scope for experimentation and social and technical innovation at regional scale, compared to broader scales of action, which can open the way for cross-scale learning and influence to emerge

Taking stock of progress under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

The Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was established in 1997 with the dual purposes of assisting non-Annex I Parties in achieving sustainable development and assisting Annex I Parties in achieving compliance with their quantified greenhouse gas (GHG) emission commitments. This paper looks at the achievements of the CDM to date in the context of wider private and public flows of investment into developing countries. Market demand for GHG credits from CDM projects comes from Annex I countries’ emission commitments. Annex I countries can meet those commitments by domestic as well as international emission mitigation activities, including the CDM. The CDM can be an attractive compliance option as it can help meet Annex I GHG commitments more cost-effectively through project-based activities that are consistent with host-countries’ sustainable development priorities. The extent of the demand for CDM credits depends on the stringency of emission commitments, the “gap” between countries’ emission commitments and actual emissions, and the relative use of CDM and other means of meeting emission commitment

Ranking Port Cities with High Exposure and Vulnerability to Climate Extremes

DOI:10.1787/011766488208This global screening study makes a first estimate of the exposure of the world's large port cities to coastal flooding due to storm surge and damage due to high winds. This assessment also investigates how climate change is likely to impact each port city's exposure to coastal flooding by the 2070s, alongside subsidence and population growth and urbanisation. The study provides a much more comprehensive analysis than earlier assessments, focusing on the 136 port cities around the world that have more than one million inhabitants in 2005. The analysis demonstrates that a large number of people are already exposed to coastal flooding in large port cities. Across all cities, about 40 million people (0.6% of the global population or roughly 1 in 10 of the total port city population in the cities considered here) are exposed to a 1 in 100 year coastal flood event. For present-day conditions (2005), the top ten cities in terms of exposed population are estimated to be Mumbai, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Miami, Ho Chi Minh City, Kolkata, Greater New York, Osaka-Kobe, Alexandria and New Orleans; almost equally split between developed and developing countries. When assets are considered, the current distribution becomes more heavily weighted towards developed countries, as the wealth of the cities becomes important. The top 10 cities in terms of assets exposed are Miami, Greater New York, New Orleans, Osaka-Kobe, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Nagoya, Tampa-St Petersburg and Virginia Beach. These cities contain 60% of the total exposure, but are from only three (wealthy) countries: USA, Japan and the Netherlands. The total value of assets exposed in 2005 is across all cities considered here is estimated to be US3,000 billion; corresponding to around 5% of global GDP in 2005 (both measured in international USD)... Available at : http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/environment/ranking-port-cities-with-high-exposure-and-vulnerability-to-climate-extremes_01176648820

The institutionalisation of sustainable practices in cities: how initiatives shape local selection environments

The ways in which institutions are reconfigured to change mainstream selection pressures to favour sustainability is central to research on sustainability transitions but has only recently begun to receive more attention. Of this existing work, empirical attention has mainly focused on the national level with less attention to local dynamics. Attending to this gap, we mobilise theory on institutionalisation processes and insights from the politics of transitions literature and take an actor perspective to investigate the agency of local sustainability initiatives to navigate local governance processes and reconfigure selection environments at the urban scale. Our work subsequently demonstrates the importance of diverse actor tactics, of networking for advocacy and of networking for the creation of informal, ad hoc governance arenas

A research roadmap for quantifying non-state and subnational climate mitigation action

Non-state and subnational climate actors have become central to global climate change governance. Quantitatively assessing climate mitigation undertaken by these entities is critical to understand the credibility of this trend. In this Perspective, we make recommendations regarding five main areas of research and methodological development related to evaluating non-state and subnational climate actions: defining clear boundaries and terminology; use of common methodologies to aggregate and assess non-state and subnational contributions; systematically dealing with issues of overlap; estimating the likelihood of implementation; and addressing data gaps

Equity and justice in climate change adaptation : Policy and practical implication in Nigeria

Over the past decade, justice and equity have become a quasi-universal answer to problems of environmental governance. The principles of justice and equity emerged as a useful entry point in global governance to explore the responsibilities, distribution, and procedures required for just climate change adaptation. These principles are designed primarily through the establishment of funding mechanisms, top-down guides, and frameworks for adaptation, and other adaptation instruments from the UNFCCC process, to ensure effective adaptation for vulnerable countries like Nigeria that have contributed least to the issue of climate change but lack adaptive capacity. Global adaptation instruments have been acknowledged for adaptation in Nigeria. Climate change has a detrimental impact on Nigeria as a nation, with the burden falling disproportionately on the local government areas. As Nigeria develop national plans and policies to adapt to the consequences of climate change, these plans will have significant consequences for local government areas where adaptation practices occur. Although the local government’s adaptation burden raises the prospects for justice and equity, its policy and practical implication remains less explored. This chapter explores the principles of justice and equity in national adaptation policy and adaptation practices in eight local government areas in southeast Nigeria. The chapter argues that some factors make it challenging to achieve equity and justice in local adaptation practices. With the use of a qualitative approach (interview (n = 52), observation, and document analysis), this chapter identified some of the factors that constraints equity and justice in local government adaptation in southeast Nigeria.publishedVersio

Informing UK governance of resilience to climate risks: improving the local evidence-base

International assessments of evidence on climate change (e.g. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC) or national climate change risk assessments (e.g. UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, CCRA) do not offer a sufficiently granular perspective on climate impacts to adequately inform governance of resilience to climate risks at the local level. Using an analysis of UK decision-makers managing and responding to heatwaves and flood risks, this paper argues how more robust local evidence is needed to inform decision-making regarding adaptation options for enhancing local resilience. We identify evidence gaps and issues relating to local climate change impacts, including sources and quality of evidence used, adequacy and accessibility of evidence available, ill-communicated evidence and conflicting or misused evidence. A lack of appreciation regarding how scientific evidence and personal judgement can mutually enhance the quality of decision-making underpins all of these gaps. Additionally, we find that the majority of evidence currently used is reductively based upon socio-economic and physical characteristics of climate risks. We argue that a step change is needed in local climate resilience that moves beyond current physical and socio-economic risk characterisation to a more inclusive co-constitution of social and politically defined climate risks at the local scale that are better aligned with the local impacts felt and needs of stakeholders

Low carbon governance: Mobilizing community energy through top-down support?

Community energy makes an important contribution to sustainable energy generation, reduction and management, and is a desirable feature of a low carbon future. Renewable community energy is increasingly gaining momentum even in the centralized UK energy market. The challenge of low carbon transitions is faced by multiple territorial governments, and requires inclusive governance arrangements in which a combination of actors work together to implement community strategies towards a climate-resilient future. Low carbon governance is a multi-level and (co-)evolving process, especially in the complex interactions between actors of the core, inner periphery and civil periphery. The devolution of power within the UK has enabled Scotland to establish an ambitious policy agenda for renewable energy. By exploring an established national community energy programme, this study examines the interplay among different actors and looks into how multi-level governance can be strengthened. This paper combines multi-level and evolutionary governance theory to understand the extent to which top-down initiatives facilitate community renewable energy projects and help drive wider system transformations. It concludes that in an evolving policy environment, top-down support for community energy is a necessary motivator. This requires the state to play a dominant role in directing low carbon transitions, while acting in concert with non-state, local and regional actors. If communities are to benefit from energy transitions, wider policies must be aligned with community needs, otherwise community energy will be pushed to the margins of the next energy revolution. Copyright©2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environmen