A Province under Pressure: Climate Change Policy in Alberta

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-199
Author(s):  
Brendan Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Policy Transfer ◽  
International Policy ◽  
Economic Competitiveness ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Reduce Emissions

AbstractAlberta is responsible for over a third of Canada's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Reducing the country's emissions requires policies and initiatives that reduce emissions in the province. Yet the study of provincial climate change policy in Canada has largely focused on lower-emitting provinces like British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario. This article argues that Alberta is best understood as a “reluctant actor” on climate change, whose policies are influenced by decisions and pressures from outside its borders. The literature on Canadian-American environmental policy making and international policy transfer are used to explore provincial GHG targets and carbon pricing policies. The article finds that Alberta's 2002 targets and Specified Gas Emitters Regulation were determined by economic competitiveness and leakage concerns, while the adoption of new GHG targets in 2008 and a carbon tax was the result of policy transfer through political bandwagoning and the desire for reputational benefits.

scholarly journals CARBON TAX: PROGRESS OR PLATITUDE FOR SOUTH AFRICA?

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele N Dempster
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Carbon Taxation ◽  
Petroleum Sector ◽  
Combat Climate Change

In light of the 2009 United Nations Copenhagen climate change conference, South Africa announced that in order to combat climate change it would commit to reducing domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 34 per cent by 2020 and 42 per cent by 2025. Due to this commitment, a carbon tax will be implemented as from 1 January 2015. This market-based instrument has received broad attention sparking debate as industries most affected, namely Eskom and the petroleum sector, have rallied together in complaint. The main debate being that despite the politically ambitious commitment to reduce GHG emissions, little scientific, economic or comparative evidence has been given to show that an influence will actually be had on the amount of GHG emitted. The purpose of this article is not to provide a detailed analysis of the entire scope of the South African climate change policy. It focuses on the more limited issue of carbon taxation. This does not however mean that the numerous other competing policy options, which still beg for attention, are not viable or will not be implemented in the future.

scholarly journals Natural Resources and the Environment: Constitutional Challenges Facing Climate Change Policy in Canada

Federalism-E ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-27
Author(s):  
Yvonne Leung
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
The World ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Reduce Emissions

The problem of anthropogenic climate change is arguably one of the foremost pressing issues facing the world today. With that, governments around the world have been working together to put forward binding targets and agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their respective jurisdictions. The most famous example of these multilateral efforts has culminated in the Kyoto Protocol, which was formally ratified by the Canadian government in 2002. However, despite this ratification, the federal government has failed to meet its reduction targets or legislate any substantial policy that would effectively regulate and reduce emissions. Indeed, rather than seeing emission levels fall, Canada’s overall GHG emissions have increased substantially.1[...]

scholarly journals Swiss Climate Change Law

2021 ◽  
pp. 17-47
Author(s):  
Julia Hänni ◽  
Tienmu Ma
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Climate ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
European Court ◽  
Recent Innovation ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Reduce Emissions

AbstractThis chapter explores the relationship between Swiss climate change law and the international and European climate change regimes. At the international level, the chapter reviews the three major international agreements regulating the field: the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC, and the Paris Agreement. And at the national and regional levels, the chapter briefly describes the CO2 Act—often considered the heart of Swiss climate change policy—and questions whether it will prove effective in achieving its explicitly stated emissions reduction targets. The chapter then reviews the most significant recent innovation in the evolution of Swiss climate change policy: joining the Emissions Trading System (ETS) established by the European Union. Due to long-standing problems afflicting the ETS, the authors raise doubts about whether Switzerland’s joining the scheme will lead to meaningful reductions in the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. As an alternative to an ETS-centric approach, the authors refer to an approach centered on human rights. Drawing on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the major international climate change agreements, other sources of international law, and the recent Urgenda decision of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, the authors argue that under the human rights approach, Switzerland would be obligated to take stronger measures to reduce emissions than it could hope to achieve through the ETS and the CO2 Act alone.

Declarations: Root and Branch Unthinking

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Peter J. Taylor ◽  
Geoff O’Brien ◽  
Phil O’Keefe
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Science ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Complex Problem ◽  
Jane Jacobs ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Fit For Purpose

This chapter takes the failure of current climate change policy as a given and seeks explanations and ways forward. Policy-making should be firmly grounded in the essential nature of anthropogenic climate change – a complex problem and an existential threat. It is found wanting in three fundamental aspects. International relations with its competitive preposition is found to be not fit for purpose as decision-making arena. The scientific input for decision-making underplays the ‘anthropo’ bit of climate change and therefore is found unfit for purpose. And social science contributions are found not fit for purpose because of their innate state-centric bias. To overcome the resulting impasse requires critical unthinking. The work of Jane Jacobs is chosen as guide to unthinking thereby foregrounding cities. An invitation is issued for others to provide alternate unthinking.

Informing Climate Change Policy Through Economics and Engineering Perspectives on Energy Efficiency

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priya Sreedharan ◽  
Alan H. Sanstad ◽  
Joe Bryson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
State And Local ◽  
End Use

Energy “sustainability” and energy supply have again emerged as central public policy issues and are at the intersection of the economic, environmental, and security challenges facing the nation and the world. The goal of significantly reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with energy production and consumption, while maintaining affordable and reliable energy supplies, is one of the most important issues. Among the strategies for achieving this goal, increasing the efficiency of energy consumption in buildings is being emphasized to a degree not seen since the 1970s. “End-use” efficiency is the core of the State of California’s landmark effort to reduce its GHG emissions, of other state and local climate-change initiatives, and is emphasized in emerging federal GHG abatement legislation. Both economic and engineering methods are used to analyze energy efficiency, but the two paradigms provide different perspectives on the market and technological factors that affect the diffusion of energy efficiency. These disparate perspectives influence what is considered the appropriate role and design of public policy for leveraging not just efficient end-use technology, but other sustainable energy technologies. We review the two approaches and their current roles in the GHG policy process by describing, for illustrative purposes, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s assessment of energy efficiency in the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 Discussion Draft. We highlight opportunities and needs for improved coordination between the engineering, economic and policy communities. Our view is that a better understanding of disciplinary differences and complementarities in perspectives and analytical methods between these communities will benefit the climate change policy process.

Assessing the Operationalization of Cultural Theory through Surveys Investigating the Social Aspects of Climate Change Policy Making

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 651-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Cambardella ◽  
Brian D. Fath ◽  
Andrea Werdenigg ◽  
Christian Gulas ◽  
Harald Katzmair
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
The Social

AbstractCultural theory (CT) provides a framework for understanding how social dimensions shape cultural bias and social relations of individuals, including values, view of the natural world, policy preferences, and risk perceptions. The five resulting cultural solidarities are each associated with a “myth of nature”—a concept of nature that aligns with the worldview of each solidarity. When applied to the problem of climate protection policy making, the relationships and beliefs outlined by CT can shed light on how members of the different cultural solidarities perceive their relationship to climate change and associated risk. This can be used to deduce what climate change management policies may be preferred or opposed by each group. The aim of this paper is to provide a review of how CT has been used in surveys of the social aspects of climate change policy making, to assess the construct validity of these studies, and to identify ways for climate change protection policies to leverage the views of each of the cultural solidarities to develop clumsy solutions: policies that incorporate strengths from each of the cultural solidarities’ perspectives. Surveys that include measures of at least fatalism, hierarchism, individualism, and egalitarianism and their associated myths of nature as well as measures of climate change risk perceptions and policy preferences have the highest translation and predictive validity. These studies will be useful in helping environmental managers find clumsy solutions and develop resilient policy according to C.S. Holling’s adaptive cycle.

scholarly journals COMBINING MULTIPLE CLIMATE POLICY INSTRUMENTS: HOW NOT TO DO IT

2010 ◽  
Vol 01 (03) ◽  
pp. 209-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
SAMUEL FANKHAUSER ◽  
CAMERON HEPBURN ◽  
JISUNG PARK
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Carbon Price ◽  
Reserve Price ◽  
Cap And Trade ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Hybrid Instruments ◽  
Carbon Prices

Putting a price on carbon is critical for climate change policy. Increasingly, policymakers combine multiple policy tools to achieve this, for example by complementing cap-and-trade schemes with a carbon tax, or with a feed-in tariff. Often, the motivation for doing so is to limit undesirable fluctuations in the carbon price, either from rising too high or falling too low. This paper reviews the implications for the carbon price of combining cap-and-trade with other policy instruments. We find that price intervention may not always have the desired effect. Simply adding a carbon tax to an existing cap-and-trade system reduces the carbon price in the market to such an extent that the overall price signal (tax plus carbon price) may remain unchanged. Generous feed-in tariffs or renewable energy obligations within a capped area have the same effect: they undermine the carbon price in the rest of the trading regime, likely increasing costs without reducing emissions. Policymakers wishing to support carbon prices should turn to hybrid instruments — that is, trading schemes with price-like features, such as an auction reserve price — to make sure their objectives are met.

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