scholarly journals The business – government nexus: Impact of government actions and legislation on business responses to climate change

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Sheela Sree Kumar ◽  
Bobby Banerjee ◽  
Fernanda de Paiva Duarte ◽  
Ann Dadich
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
Government Action ◽  
Cooperative Strategies ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
High Emission ◽  
Industry Associations ◽  
Legislative Measures

Abstract Australia has committed to reducing emissions under the Paris Agreement by 2030, in alignment with the United Nations' (UN) Sustainability Development Goal (SDG) climate action. This article investigates the responses of Australian high-emission businesses to Australian government action and legislation in relation to climate change, specifically the carbon tax, and how this knowledge can assist in delineating future carbon legislation. A qualitative study of the responses of 17 high-emission businesses and three industry associations to carbon legislation during the implementation of the carbon tax in Australia identified the use of resistive, reactive or cooperative strategies by the businesses. Issues related to carbon legislation identified by businesses included differences in time orientation, multiple regulations, political uncertainty, international positioning and the need for long-term and consolidated policies. Given these findings, this article argues that well-designed top-down legislative measures are necessary to steer businesses towards a carbon-neutral regime.

From Kyoto to Paris and Beyond: The Emerging Politics of Climate Change

2021 ◽  
pp. 097492842110272
Author(s):  
Saurabh Thakur
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
Greenhouse Gases Emissions ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Action Strategies ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Justice Movements

Anthropogenic climate change has emerged as the most disruptive socio-political issue in the last few decades. The Kyoto Protocol’s failure to curb the rising greenhouse gases emissions pushed the UNFCCC-led negotiations towards a more flexible, non-binding agreement at the Paris COP21 meeting in 2015. The Paris Agreement’s hybrid approach to climate change governance, where flexible measures like the nationally determined commitments are balanced against the ambition of limiting the global temperature within the two-degree range, ensured the emergence of an increasingly complex and multi-stakeholder climate change regime. The article outlines the roadmap of the transition from the top-down approach of Kyoto Protocol to the legally non-binding, bottom-up approaches adopted for the post-Paris phase. The article outlines the post-Paris developments in international climate politics, which hold long-term geopolitical and geoeconomic implications. The article focuses on the fundamental shifts and balances within the UNFCCC architecture and examines the four fundamental features of this transition—the interpretation of differentiation and common but differentiated responsibilities, the evolving role of emerging economies in the negotiations, the rising profile of non-party stakeholders in shaping the climate action strategies and the emergence of climate justice movements as an alternate site of climate action.

scholarly journals China and Climate Change Governance: A Golden Opportunity

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Barry Buzan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Policy Adjustment ◽  
The World ◽  
Golden Opportunity ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Climate Crisis

Climate change is a threat to all of humankind, yet there is still a leadership vacuum on climate governance. At the same time, the deepening climate crisis also presents a golden opportunity for Beijing to assume the role of a global leader. China has the capacity to do it in a way that the United States, Russia, India, and the European Union do not. Taking swift climate action is in Beijing’s interest. Greater contributions to climate governance will certainly help advance China’s long-term political interest in both raising its political status and demonstrating the claimed superiority of its system of government. Positive rhetoric and robust action by China are likely to have a disproportionate effect on the rest of the world. Policy adjustment and implementation by Beijing will bring benefits to the rest of the world. Climate policy options that Beijing may take in the future are not mutually exclusive. The policy shift on climate change could also be attached more firmly to the idea of sustainable development as a defining factor of China’s approach to tackling the climate change threat.

scholarly journals Superimposition: How Indian city bureaucracies are responding to climate change

2020 ◽  
pp. 251484862094909
Author(s):  
Ankit Bhardwaj ◽  
Radhika Khosla
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
City Governments ◽  
Governance Capacity ◽  
Two Cities ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Indian City ◽  
Indian Cities ◽  
Governance Arrangements

City governments are facing complex challenges due to climate change, but those in the global South often have limited capacities and governance arrangements to develop and execute a response. Cities must also manage other existing priorities such as housing, water and waste management, which have established bureaucratic practices and incentives. How are such cities with limited climate governance capacity and with existing non-climate priorities developing a climate response? From interviews and participant observation in two Indian cities that are pioneering climate action, we find that actors are ‘superimposing’ climate objectives onto existing bureaucratic practices. Building on analysis of ongoing projects in the two cities, we theorize superimposition as an approach taken by bureaucracies that have the intention of responding to climate change but have limited control over their planning practices and mandates, high levels of institutional inertia to change existing practices, and multiple other objectives related to development that dominate agendas. As superimposition does not involve the modification of existing bureaucratic practices or incentives, the types of climate actions which emerge from this approach reflect the features, scope and limitations of existing political arrangements. We highlight five such features of how Indian city bureaucracies respond to climate change: (1) the primacy of central and state ‘schemes’, (2) the prioritization of ‘development’ as an objective, and the imperative to implement (3) ‘quick win’, (4) ‘visible’ and (5) ‘bankable’ projects. Superimposition has led to creative and politically tenable climate projects that meet both climate objectives and those of existing schemes on housing, water and waste. But these projects are also limited by existing governance arrangements with tradeoffs for long-term planning, urban justice and public ownership of infrastructure.

scholarly journals Cancel (Out) Emissions? The Envisaged Role of Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies in Long-Term National Climate Strategies

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Buylova ◽  
Mathias Fridahl ◽  
Naghmeh Nasiritousi ◽  
Gunilla Reischl
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Removal ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Low Emission ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Removal Technologies ◽  
Barriers And Opportunities

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) increasingly features in climate scenarios that hold global warming well below 2°C by 2100. Given the continuous gap between climate mitigation pledges and the emission pathways that are aligned with achieving the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement, we would expect countries to promote CDR in their long-term planning to achieve mid-century targets. Yet, countries may not consider it their responsibility to contribute to the global response to climate change using CDR. Thus, a study of the respective country's long-term climate plans is both timely and vital. Such a study could reveal the pledged collective ambition, the contribution of CDR to the pledged ambition, and how the envisaged role of CDR is described by the different countries. This paper explores the long-term low emission development strategies (LT-LEDS) of countries in order to map the role of CDR in addressing climate change. We also supplement our examination of strategies with the opinions of climate experts. Based on an inductive coding of the material and a literature review, the analytical focus of the analysis includes CDR targets and planning, types of CDR, barriers and opportunities to CDR implementation, as well as international cooperation. Our study of 25 national LT-LEDS submitted to the UN or to the EU, as well as 23 interviews with climate experts, shows that national plans for CDR vary substantially across countries and are generally lacking in detail. The findings also demonstrate that CDR is perceived to be necessary and desirable for achieving mid-century climate goals, but also reveal variation in the intended role of CDR. We use an interpretive approach to outline three possible visions of CDR in climate action: as a panacea, as a necessary fallback and as a chimera. We conclude by discussing what our findings of the envisaged roles of CDR in addressing climate change mean for climate governance. This research thereby contributes to the literature on governing CDR with new comprehensive insights into the long-term climate strategies of countries.

Sewer storage tank performance under climate change

2007 ◽  
Vol 56 (12) ◽  
pp. 29-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Butler ◽  
B. McEntee ◽  
C. Onof ◽  
A. Hagger
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Emission Scenario ◽  
Rainfall Time Series ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Average Volume ◽  
High Emission ◽  
High Emission Scenario ◽  
And Performance

This paper describes a study of the potential effects of climate change on the design and performance of sewer storage tanks. A long-term synthetic rainfall time-series has been derived based on the IPPC medium-high emission scenario for a case study in London. Results indicate a 35% increase in the number of storm events that cause filling of the tank and a 57% increase in the average volume of storage required. A method to estimate the required future storage volume for any given return period has been developed and described. Indications are that significantly larger storage volumes will be required to maintain the same level of flood protection.

Improving the Environmental Outlook

2019 ◽  
pp. 255-270
Author(s):  
William G. Gale
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Prices ◽  
Full Cost ◽  
Oil And Natural Gas ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
Effective Part

A carbon tax would burden emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that arise from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas. When they are released in the atmosphere, these gases raise global temperatures and pollute in ways that threaten the environment and people’s livelihoods. Currently, businesses and people don’t need to consider how their decisions on what to make and what to buy will increase pollution and contribute to climate change because they don’t bear the full cost of their actions. A properly designed tax would make producers and consumers face those costs by raising energy prices, prompting them to use less, more efficient, and/or cleaner energy sources, which, in turn, would reduce emissions. For these reasons, the carbon tax is routinely considered an auspicious way to address global warming and would be an effective part of a package to resolve the long-term fiscal problem.

Designing and Forecasting the Differentiated Carbon Tax Scheme Based on the Principle of Ability to Pay

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (01) ◽  
pp. 1740004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lian-Biao Cui ◽  
Ma-Lin Song
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Ability To Pay ◽  
Cooperative Strategies ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Energy Version ◽  
Forecasting System ◽  
Trade Analysis

In the “Post-Kyoto” Era, climate change has become a serious worldwide concern, though the international community has not yet identified a cooperative solution that satisfies all parties. The carbon tariffs, which proposed by some developed countries to address competitiveness concerns and carbon leakage from unilateral reduction measures, may impose significant hardships on developing countries. This paper tries to design a global cooperation scheme against the carbon tariffs. A differentiated carbon taxation scheme is introduced based on the principle of ability to pay (CTAP). An advanced forecasting system named the energy version of the global trade analysis model (GTAP-E) was used to compare the different impacts of carbon tariffs and the CTAP scheme. The results show that CTAP is better than carbon tariffs in terms of global GDP, welfare, and emissions reduction. The CTAP scheme could yield less welfare deterioration for developing regions than the carbon tariffs, and also lessens the competitive concerns of developed countries. The proposed CTAP scheme provides new ideas for international cooperative strategies to address climate change.

Inter-American Development Bank Group Climate Change Action Plan 2021-2025

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The Bahamas ◽  
Group Climate ◽  
Climate Resilience ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Bank Group ◽  
Climate Change Action Plan

The Climate Change Action Plan describes the IDB Groups progress since 2016 to support the regions need for low-carbon and climate-resilient development finance and its plan to raise climate ambition continuously in the region. The Second Update to the Institutional Strategy specifies that cross cutting issues, including climate change, continue to hamper development and that the IDB Group will renew its commitment to address them. The climate-finance goal set in the Bahamas Resolution has been extended through its inclusion in the IDB Group Corporate Results Framework 2020- 2023 (CRF 20202023).5 At the same time, all MDBs have committed to complement tracking of their financial contributions to climate action with a new approach focused on the consistency of their support with long-term decarbonization and climate resilience efforts. To this end, MDBs have outlined a common approach to support countries to deliver on their commitments under the PA. There has also been increasing recognition of the need to measure the results of the IDB Groups climate action and the complexity it entails.

scholarly journals Responding to the Call for Climate Action

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 237
Author(s):  
Daniel E. Lane
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Adaptive Capacity ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Climate Response ◽  
Climate Information ◽  
Carbon Footprints ◽  
Climate Action

Global calls for action on climate change have become more urgent in recent years. However, how to act to achieve climate sustainability remains elusive. The evidence is clear that governmental initiatives – global, national, and provincial – have not been able to coalesce into a meaningful strategy for climate sustainability. What is required is a shift in climate responsibility from governments to individuals and communities who think globally but are best able to act locally. To encourage the citizenry to act requires a science-based information and education whereby climate action is clearly defined along with the consequences of actions (or inaction). Education must include a climate curriculum as a mainstream subject in our schools. Using this approach, local community baselines of climate information, vulnerability, and adaptive capacity can be established. In enhancing their climate roles, governments’ need to shift from carrying out mandates for climate response, to becoming auditors of carbon use in which citizens and businesses are given incentives to reduce carbon footprints. Finally, increased investments need to be directed to communities so that they can take more responsibility and be more prepared to live with climate change impacts. Governments also need to engage the community in participatory strategic long-term planning for adaptation to the changing climate. Keywords: climate action, climate responsibility, institutional arrangements, science-based information, education legacy, strategic planning, community investment

scholarly journals The Time Machine: challenging perceptions of time and place to enhance climate change engagement through museums

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-217
Author(s):  
Henry McGhie ◽  
Sarah Mander ◽  
Asher Minns
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Psychological Distance ◽  
Time Machine ◽  
Past Climate ◽  
The Past ◽  
Collective Response ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Past Climate Change

This article explores how museums can help empower people to engage constructively with climate change, through applying a range of time-related concepts to their exhibitions and events. Museums are mostly collections of the past. Climate change now and future presents particular challenges as it is perceived to be psychologically distant. The link between this distance and effective climate action is complex and presents an opportunity for museums, as sites where psychological distance can be explored in safe, consequence-free ways. This paper explores how we can use museums to help develop understanding within the rhetoric of climate change to assist visitors with their personal or collective response to the climate challenge. Time-related concepts including Foucault’s heterotopia, long-term thinking as advocated in the History Manifesto and the ‘Big Here and Long Now’, are explored in relation to museums as potential tools for constructive climate change engagement. 

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