scholarly journals Scaling up local climate action: A survey of climate policy priorities in the Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities region

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 36-69
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Rhodes ◽  
Tamara Krawchenko ◽  
Katherine Pearce ◽  
Karena Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Climate Policy ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Coastal Communities ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Barriers And Opportunities ◽  
Upper Level

Regional planning can help functionally-connected communities share expertise and the costs of climate action and amplify collective concerns and needs to upper-level governments. Understanding communities’ climate impacts, policies and barriers to action is foundational to the development of regional-scale climate planning. In support of a nascent climate strategy in the Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities region of British Columbia, our study employs a web-based survey of local government officials (n=106) to identify the existing climate impacts, policy priorities, barriers, and opportunities that guide climate policy-making in the region, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that nearly all communities have experienced climate-related impacts and have implemented a variety of climate policies. However, local governments face substantial barriers—including a lack of financial resources, authority and staffing capacity—to pursue climate action and planning.

scholarly journals Den kommunale klimaindsats 1990-2018: en komparativ analyse af fem danske kommuners klimaindsats i et historisk perspektiv

Politik ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mette Stidsen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Demographic Factors ◽  
Global Organizations ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The Media ◽  
Climate Adaption ◽  
The Eu

Global organizations like the UN and the EU have been working towards mitigating climate change since the end of the 1980s. The media, the politicians and the scholars in Denmark often overlook the potential of local governments. This raises questions regarding the development in climate adaption and mitigation in Danish municipalities. What kind of initiatives does the municipalities implement? Are there conformity in the measures and if so, why? Are there variations in the local climate policy and if so, why? The analysis shows that the national and supranational legislation and agreements provide the framework for the climate action in the municipalities. The reasons for the variation of the implementation times are many: geographic and demographic factors, general trends, paradiplomacy and the desire for a green image. 

The diffusion of climate policies among German municipalities

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Abel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Policy ◽  
Event History Analysis ◽  
Policy Cycle ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
History Analysis ◽  
Diffusion Effects ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Transnational City

AbstractThe German government established a funding scheme for local climate policy in 2008. The translation of this programme into climate action varies between municipalities. This article studies the drivers and barriers for the diffusion of the programme among German municipalities. A major aim is to disentangle the diffusion effects across different steps within the policy cycle by employing Event History Analysis and spatial panel autoregressive models. Geographical proximity, party channels and transnational city networks are predictors of the diffusion process. Differences in diffusion effects between policy adoption and substantial policy output indicate that emulation as well as learning influence policy activity. Furthermore, increasing deployment of solar photovoltaic systems in neighbouring municipalities is associated with an intensification of climate policy in the focal municipality. The absence of similar effects for other renewable energy technologies hints at the “conditional nature” of policy learning with respect to the policy-makers’ vote- and policy-seeking behaviour.

scholarly journals India and Climate Change: Evolving Ideas and Increasing Policy Engagement

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 395-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Navroz K. Dubash ◽  
Radhika Khosla ◽  
Ulka Kelkar ◽  
Sharachchandra Lele
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Global Context ◽  
International Policies ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Interactive Relationship ◽  
And Shifts ◽  
Over Time

India is a significant player in climate policy and politics. It has been vocal in international climate negotiations, but its role in these negotiations has changed over time. In an interactive relationship between domestic policy and international positions, India has increasingly become a testing ground for policies that internalize climate considerations into development. This article critically reviews the arc of climate policy and politics in India over time. It begins by examining changes in knowledge and ideas around climate change in India, particularly in the areas of ethics, climate impacts, India's energy transition, linkages with sustainability, and sequestration. The next section examines changes in politics, policy, and governance at both international and national scales. The article argues that shifts in ideas and knowledge of impacts, costs, and benefits of climate action and shifts in the global context are reflected and refracted through discourses in India's domestic and international policies.

scholarly journals Intersectionality and climate policy-making: The inclusion of social difference by three Swedish government agencies

2021 ◽  
pp. 239965442110057
Author(s):  
Benedict E Singleton ◽  
Nanna Rask ◽  
Gunnhildur Lily Magnusdottir ◽  
Annica Kronsell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Social Difference ◽  
Energy Agency ◽  
Location Class ◽  
Climate Action

Climate change effects, views and approaches vary based on geographical location, class, gender, age and other climate related social factors. It is thus relevant to explore how various government bodies/authorities involved in dealing with climate change represent and act on social difference across diverse societies. This article performs a discourse analysis of climate policy documents from three Swedish government agencies: the Transport Administration, the Energy Agency, and the Environmental Protection Agency. This in order to explore how the different agencies represent social difference: what is made visible; what is obscured; what are the implications? We collected a purposive, collated sample of literature through online searches and personal communications with agency staff. We apply an intersectional approach to the sampled literature. The article finds that while each agency articulates an awareness of social difference, this tends to manifest in broad terms. It argues that this has the effect of obscuring differential climate impacts and effects of climate action, with potential environmental justice implications. Finally, the article concludes by proposing that incorporating intersectional approaches will support more effective, inclusive and equitable climate action, in Sweden and elsewhere.

Changing the Climate from the Streets of Oakland

2020 ◽  
pp. 91-114
Author(s):  
Michael Méndez
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Action Planning ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Human Scale ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The City

Focuses on the city scale, analyzing how climate change from the streets unfolds in the case of the Oakland, California climate action planning process. Provides an exemplar for featuring climate embodiment, the human scale of climate impacts, meaningful public participation, a focus on health co-benefits, and an explicit emphasis on environmental justice in the development of municipal climate policy.

Prévoir les variations saisonnières de la glace de mer arctique et leurs impacts sur le climat

2020 ◽  
pp. 024
Author(s):  
Rym Msadek ◽  
Gilles Garric ◽  
Sara Fleury ◽  
Florent Garnier ◽  
Lauriane Batté ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Recent Effort ◽  
Sea Ice Thickness ◽  
Arctic Sea ◽  
Ice Conditions ◽  
Upper Level

L'Arctique est la région du globe qui s'est réchauffée le plus vite au cours des trente dernières années, avec une augmentation de la température de surface environ deux fois plus rapide que pour la moyenne globale. Le déclin de la banquise arctique observé depuis le début de l'ère satellitaire et attribué principalement à l'augmentation de la concentration des gaz à effet de serre aurait joué un rôle important dans cette amplification des températures au pôle. Cette fonte importante des glaces arctiques, qui devrait s'accélérer dans les décennies à venir, pourrait modifier les vents en haute altitude et potentiellement avoir un impact sur le climat des moyennes latitudes. L'étendue de la banquise arctique varie considérablement d'une saison à l'autre, d'une année à l'autre, d'une décennie à l'autre. Améliorer notre capacité à prévoir ces variations nécessite de comprendre, observer et modéliser les interactions entre la banquise et les autres composantes du système Terre, telles que l'océan, l'atmosphère ou la biosphère, à différentes échelles de temps. La réalisation de prévisions saisonnières de la banquise arctique est très récente comparée aux prévisions du temps ou aux prévisions saisonnières de paramètres météorologiques (température, précipitation). Les résultats ayant émergé au cours des dix dernières années mettent en évidence l'importance des observations de l'épaisseur de la glace de mer pour prévoir l'évolution de la banquise estivale plusieurs mois à l'avance. Surface temperatures over the Arctic region have been increasing twice as fast as global mean temperatures, a phenomenon known as arctic amplification. One main contributor to this polar warming is the large decline of Arctic sea ice observed since the beginning of satellite observations, which has been attributed to the increase of greenhouse gases. The acceleration of Arctic sea ice loss that is projected for the coming decades could modify the upper level atmospheric circulation yielding climate impacts up to the mid-latitudes. There is considerable variability in the spatial extent of ice cover on seasonal, interannual and decadal time scales. Better understanding, observing and modelling the interactions between sea ice and the other components of the climate system is key for improved predictions of Arctic sea ice in the future. Running operational-like seasonal predictions of Arctic sea ice is a quite recent effort compared to weather predictions or seasonal predictions of atmospheric fields like temperature or precipitation. Recent results stress the importance of sea ice thickness observations to improve seasonal predictions of Arctic sea ice conditions during summer.

scholarly journals Correction to: Ranking local climate policy: assessing the mitigation and adaptation activities of 104 German cities

2021 ◽  
Vol 167 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Otto ◽  
Kristine Kern ◽  
Wolfgang Haupt ◽  
Peter Eckersley ◽  
Annegret H. Thieken
Keyword(s):  
Climate Policy ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
German Cities

A Correction to this paper has been published: 10.1007/s10584-021-03184-z

scholarly journals Tensions in Urban Transitions. Conceptualizing Conflicts in Local Climate Policy Arrangements

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Winfried Osthorst
Keyword(s):  
Climate Policy ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Town Planning ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Policy Arrangements

Academic and political debate places great expectations on cities’ potential for furthering decentralized, bottom-up climate policies. Local policy research acknowledges the role of local agency to develop and implement sustainability, but also acknowledges internal conflicts. This partly reflects tensions between different functions of the local level, and different governance models related to them. In addition, local dependency on higher level competencies, resources, and overarching strategies is discussed. This article proposes a focus on political processes and power relationships between levels of governance, and among relevant domains within cities, to understand the dynamics of policy change towards sustainability. Researching these dynamics within local climate policy arrangements (LCPAs) is proposed as an approach to understanding the complexities of local constellations and contradictions within them. It makes the distinction between “weak” and “strong” ecological modernization, and relates it to two basic rationales for local governance. The resulting typology denotes constellations characterizing policy change ambitions towards local climate policy in crucial domains, including economic development, energy infrastructures, climate change management, town planning and housing, and transportation. This article argues that this approach overcomes the limitations of the predominating conceptualizations of urban carbon control strategies as consistent, and recognises the multi-level dimension of such internal urban processes.

Local climate policy: Lessons from a case study of transfer of expertise between UK local authorities

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 87-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iraklis Argyriou ◽  
Paul Fleming ◽  
Andrew Wright
Keyword(s):  
Climate Policy ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Local Climate
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