Environmental Policy and Governance最新文献

As energy systems become ever more closely intertwined in order to enable electrification and real-time coordination across sectors, tracking the nature of change to ensure accountability during complex implementation processes presents novel challenges and requires renewed thinking on data infrastructures. For instance, sectors like electricity generation, electricity distribution and electrified urban transport have begun to interact more closely and with more spatial complexity than ever before. Correspondingly, this conceptual article articulates the evolving relationship between cross-sectoral metrics (CSM) and twin transitions (i.e., digitalisation and decarbonisation) of energy systems in the Anthropocene. It argues for development of explicitly cross-sectoral metrical analysis as an accountability tool for shifts to equitable, low-carbon energy systems. It draws on three pertinent fields of study—calculative logics, institutionalisation, and degrees of digitalisation—to provide the basis for a theory of transformative metrics for application to evolving energy systems. Scholarship on calculative logics offers insights on the nature of metrics, work on institutionalisation helps understand the dynamics of integrating novel metrics into evolving sociotechnical systems, and consideration of degrees of digitalisation ensures mindfulness of differences across contexts. Resulting insights can serve as diagnostic tools to inform timely monitoring and implementation of twin transitions for energy systems. Work across three distinct lines of scholarship is specified to enable conceptual development, and an empirical case study is sketched to show how to operationalise and apply an analytical framework. This delineation serves as a step towards a theory of transformative metrics, for integrative study of CSM for accountable twin transitions.

For states with political economies largely dependent on oil and natural gas rents, there seems to be little scope for accountability practices that answer for, and curb, fossil fuel production contributing to anthropogenic climate change. Critically engaging with rentier state theory, I examine the climate change accountability of Persian Gulf petrostates according to state responsibility norms under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). For both domestic and international actions undertaken by these countries, there is no meaningful climate answerability for responsible actions—that they recognise and/or commit to the phasing down of their oil and natural gas production. There are differences in their emission reduction goals, under the Paris Agreement, that map onto variations in the stability and structure of their political economies, notably between the ‘super-rentier’ states (UAE, Kuwait and Qatar) and their rentier neighbours (Saudi Arabia and Oman). However, all make ritualistic, long-term commitments to ‘clean-carbon’ (net zero-emission) futures with no plans to reduce hydrocarbon exports. I argue that international climate change obligations should include a responsibility on states to reduce GHG emissions (at source) arising from their domestic- and foreign ownership of operational oil and gas fields. State energy companies in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere are key actors in fossil fuel extraction, yet remain insulated, through their corporate identities, from state responsibility norms. Treating state ownership of fossil fuels as a legitimate target of international climate regulation would broaden state accountability for climate change harm.

The international initiative to combat deforestation and forest degradation, known as REDD+, was put on the DRC agenda following actors' policy discourse aimed at convincing policy-makers of its effectiveness. This paper uses discursive institutionalism (DI) as a theoretical and analytical framework to analyse a set of selected policy documents on REDD+ issue and to assess the effects of policy discourse on deforestation reduction governance in DRC. From an empirical standpoint, interviews with key actors involved in the DRC REDD+ processes and field observations show that four main types of discourse accompanied the adoption of REDD+ in the DRC: a discourse promoting REDD+ through its forest conservation component, as a policy instrument that would bring in significant financial resources to the DRC forest-related state bureaucracies, a discourse that considers REDD+ as an efficient mean of reducing poverty while promoting sustainability through “green development”, a discourse presenting REDD+ as a way of reducing marginalisation of local communities and indigenous peoples by recognising their customary rights, and finally, a discourse promoting REDD+ as a tool for territorial planning and governance. In addition, the paper points out strong links between DRC REDD+ policy discourse and three types of governance approaches: organisational and fiduciary governance, territorial governance, local development and benefit sharing governance. Our analysis also shows that political discourse has played a significant role in the adoption of substantial policies aimed at reducing deforestation in DRC.

Knowledge exchange (KE) between research and decision-making is increasingly demanded for tackling environmental challenges, yet there is still much to learn about how to enable that effectively. Here, we analyze a distributor of research funding (i.e., the Australian National Environmental Science Program Marine Biodiversity Hub (‘the hub’)) which actively coordinated KE between researchers and state- and Commonwealth Government end-users. Through 30 in-depth qualitative interviews with researchers, hub executives and end-users we identify enablers of KE engagement, compare what researchers and decision-makers found most important, and highlight what research programs and funding organizations can learn from this case study. Through an evolution of programs, the hub had a strong governance structure, co-identified priority setting, and funding for emerging priorities. Additional enablers were a legacy of longstanding interpersonal working relationships, regular engagement, knowledge brokering roles, and the nationally trusted role of the hub. Researchers more so than end-users found trust, the focus on clear end-user needs as well as the hub's governance and progress-monitoring key to success. End-users more often indicated the early engagement, collaborative nature, and flexibility to adjust as important assets to effective interaction. Visions for future KE included better engagement of Traditional Owners, streamlining direct access to expertise, more accessible outputs, and earlier involvement of researchers in policy development. In sum, we find that time (e.g., pre-story, early engagement) and boundary roles (e.g., knowledge brokering individuals, engaged research funders or coordinators) are key to success underlining that there are substantial components to KE success that can be nurtured and planned for.

Adapting to climate change involves taking a series of actions that reduce and/or avoid the effect of climate risks while ultimately increasing development opportunities in affected environments. Therefore, adaptation to climate change must become an integral part of a sustainable development process, in which it maintains the same priority as other development goals and strategies. Aiming to address the conceptual gap in coherent policy research in the fields of climate change and sustainable development, we performed coherence analysis research, categorized the different approaches, and defined methodology. The methodological framework was tested during the Living Lab based on a deliberative participatory process, making it easily applicable to diverse targets and contexts. The methodological framework developed in this study represents an unprecedented experience at the national (Italy) and regional level (Sardinia), projected to address global current/future environmental issues and problems through local knowledge, peculiarities, and resources.

Cities and local governments are important actors in the global governance of climate change; however, the specific governance principles and arrangements that enable urban climate plans and policies to realize commitments to social equity and justice remain largely unexplored. This article uses the City of Barcelona, Spain, as a critical case study of emerging “intersectional climate justice” practice, where plans to build resilience to climate change are pursued in conjunction with efforts to tackle structural inequalities in accessing the built environment, health services, energy, housing, and transportation experienced by frontline communities. The study illustrates how Barcelona and its community partners do this through four different categories of governance and decision-making tactics, which include: (1) experimenting with disruptive planning strategies; (2) working transversally across agencies and actors to institutionalize climate justice over time; (3) putting care at the center of urban planning; and (4) mobilizing place-based approaches to tackle intersecting vulnerabilities of frontline residents. These tactics seek to redistribute the benefits of climate-resilient infrastructures more fairly and to enhance participatory processes more meaningfully. Finally, we assess the limitations and challenges of mobilizing these tactics in everyday urban politics. Barcelona's experience contributes to research on climate governance by challenging the notion of distinct waves of governance and revealing concurrent dimensions of climate urbanism that coexist spatially and temporally. Our research also illustrates lessons for fairer climate governance in the city, where different tactics are mobilized to address structural and intersecting socioeconomic vulnerabilities that exacerbate the experience of climate change of frontline residents.

Non-state actors (NSAs) have been widely recognized as important participants in the global climate regime. Their participation is considered to have the potential to enhance the democratic legitimacy of global governance institutions such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). What is the mechanism through which NSAs grant legitimacy to the institution? This study connects NSA legitimation with their deliberation at multilateral venues. I argue that, while NSAs do not have formal voting or decision-making power, evaluating their participation in deliberation activities, such as the Side Events at the annual Conference of Parties, can shed light on our understanding of whether there is equality in their participation and who gets to contribute to the institutional legitimacy of the UNFCCC. Drawing on the example of women's groups at the UNFCCC, I demonstrate their increasing participation in deliberation. Quantitative analysis and interviews suggest that their participation is relatively inclusive with a diverse range of actors and viewpoints. Although Global Northern NSAs enjoy some advantages in participation, the effect is balanced by NSAs' social embeddedness, especially for the Southern groups, and the robust collaborations between the North and South. These features are likely to enhance the legitimacy of UNFCCC. Future research should consider how to understand and assess legitimacy in global governance regimes and who may be left out in the legitimation process.

This article explores Danish renewable energy policy and policymaking, focusing on the development of nearshore wind energy and the role played by various actors, their competing ideas, the discursive processes in which they participate, and the institutional settings where exchanges occur. The research employs a case study design, concentrating on the Vesterhav Syd nearshore windfarm project. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, the paper exploits Discursive Institutionalism and one of its recent refinements, labelled Ideational Power that highlights power over, through and in ideas. The data gathered provides compelling evidence of the ways in which actors struggle for dominance, each seeking to persuade others of their preferred policy problem definition and solutions: a process that oscillates between highly technical coordinative discourses among government agencies and business organisations and more politicised communicative discourses among a wider set of actors that includes community groups. Significantly, this case reveals the power of various policy stakeholders in Danish energy policy, suggesting that once decisions are taken at the national level of governance to construct a windfarm, only limited influence can be exerted by local groups on the outcomes. Our findings raise wider questions about such processes beyond the Danish case.

The concept of a ‘nexus’ across issues regarding the management of natural resources has gained increasing academic attention in recent years, but there is still relatively limited research on the application of the nexus approach for evaluating policies. This study analyses coherence among the main goals of five policy areas (water, energy, food, land, and climate) in Sweden, drawing upon a desk review, expert assessment, and interaction with stakeholders. The main objective is to enhance understanding of opportunities and challenges posed by such a nexus, understand policy interactions in Sweden, and provide insights into the use of policy coherence analysis as an integral part of resource nexus assessments. The analysis reveals synergies and conflicts between policy goals. For example, Sweden's environmental quality objectives (EQOs) regarding land and all the goals regarding water are either synergistic or neutral. Likewise, climate policy goals are well aligned with the goals regarding energy and ground water quality. On the other hand, the key goal for agriculture, which is food production, is the least coherent with those of the other policy areas. There are conflicts between the EQOs and goals regarding agricultural and forestry production. Stakeholders also indicate that climate goals are treated with higher priority than the goals of other policy areas. Notably, some interactions between policy goals are synergistic or conflicting depending on the context or their interpretation. Implementation of existing goals depends on relevant stakeholders' interests, priorities and interpretations, and on existing prevailing discourses in society, often supported by higher level policies.

Environmental policy integration is needed to ensure environmental policy goals are being realized, given their cross-sectoral nature. Most of the published research has focused on integration and coherence of (inter)national policies, plans, and programs. The implementation practices for these policies, however, are at least as important. This paper therefore looks at policy implementation for the case of artisanal gold mining in Liberia. This is studied through a lens of frontline staff (street-level bureaucrats) who operate in networks of local government agencies, civil society organizations, and communities. Results of interviews and field observations in Grand Gedeh county show how the policy context and local realities create specific dilemmas, resulting from the combination of limited resources of local frontline staff, low-income security for local communities and traditional local practices around protected forest areas. In response local frontline bureaucrats use their discretionary power and network to mobilize support, pool resources, combine mandates, and find creative solutions to both regulate and support community residents. Although these implementation strategies are neither necessarily sufficient to realize the official policy goals, nor are guaranteed to have the desired effects, they do show how local frontline staff act as de facto policymakers. Recognizing frontline staff as environmental policy integrators therefore is a crucial element toward more successful policies for sustainable development.