scholarly journals Questioning Low-Carbon Transition Governance: A Comparative Analysis of European Case Studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 10460
Author(s):  
Federica Rotondo ◽  
Francesca Abastante ◽  
Giancarlo Cotella ◽  
Isabella Maria Lami

To achieve the international emission reduction targets, current researches underline the need to overcome the dominant techno-centric approaches to energy transition, in favor of analyses that explore in more detail those practices and organizational assets that play a role in favoring a transition towards a low-carbon society. In this light, the article focuses on governance practices and, in particular, on the different tools and actors involved across variable scales and temporalities. Drawing on the activities of the ERASMUS+ Strategic Partnership for Higher Education LOTUS (Locally Organized Transition of Urban Sustainable Spaces), a selection of European case studies is explored and compared in light of (i) the implemented actions in terms of energy production and efficiency measures, (ii) the legal framework and the origin of the funding and (iii) the number and type of involved actors and their partnerships. On this basis, the analysis outlines, from both a theoretical and a practical stand, a number of critical issues that characterize these episodes of energy transition governance. In particular, the authors reflect upon the interaction between energy measures and urban contexts, the need for synergies among government level and the emergence of new forms of partnership among public, private and third parties’ actors.

Author(s):  
José Ángel Gimeno ◽  
Eva Llera Sastresa ◽  
Sabina Scarpellini

Currently, self-consumption and distributed energy facilities are considered as viable and sustainable solutions in the energy transition scenario within the European Union. In a low carbon society, the exploitation of renewables for self-consumption is closely tied to the energy market at the territorial level, in search of a compromise between competitiveness and the sustainable exploitation of resources. Investments in these facilities are highly sensitive to the existence of favourable conditions at the territorial level, and the energy policies adopted in the European Union have contributed positively to the distributed renewables development and the reduction of their costs in the last decade. However, the number of the installed facilities is uneven in the European Countries and those factors that are more determinant for the investments in self-consumption are still under investigation. In this scenario, this paper presents the main results obtained through the analysis of the determinants in self-consumption investments from a case study in Spain, where the penetration of this type of facilities is being less relevant than in other countries. As a novelty of this study, the main influential drivers and barriers in self-consumption are classified and analysed from the installers' perspective. On the basis of the information obtained from the installers involved in the installation of these facilities, incentives and barriers are analysed within the existing legal framework and the potential specific lines of the promotion for the effective deployment of self-consumption in an energy transition scenario.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 26-31
Author(s):  
Md. Raisul Islam Sourav

This article contains a doctrinal analysis of the law and policy encouragement towards a low carbon energy transition in the Scotland. To do this, the present article is primarily focused on electricity sector of the Scotland and its commitment towards a low carbon transition in this sector in coming years. This article analyzes the existing significant laws and policies in Scotland that encourage towards a low carbon transition. However, it also evaluates international obligation upon the Scotland and the UK, as well, towards this transition. Subsequently, it assesses the UK’s legal framework in this regard. However, Scotland is firmly committed to achieve its targets towards a low carbon transition in the power sector although it needs more incentive and tight observation of the government to smoothen the process.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 1176-1197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas L Muinzer ◽  
Geraint Ellis

The UK has a ‘national’ strategy to decarbonise its energy sector, yet the transfer of key responsibilities to its Devolved Administrations has meant that they control many of the powers that determine the rate and extent of the decarbonisation process. This reflects an asymmetrical distribution of legal responsibilities that has cast a complex range of powers ‘downward’ from the national sphere to subnational scales and which plays a crucial role in shaping the agency at different levels of the UK’s energy governance. This paper provides a detailed exploration of the UK’s ‘Energy Constitution’ as a means of examining the way in which the complex legal framework of devolution shapes the spatial organisation of the UK’s low carbon transition. Previous research on the low carbon transition has remained largely ‘lawless’ and as such has tended to overlook how the legal regimes governing energy both produce space and are shaped by its geographic context. The paper therefore develops a more nuanced understanding of the spatiality, territorialisation and scaling of UK energy governance to highlight a nexus of ambiguity and partial power allocation distributed across a plurality of overlapping ‘legal’ jurisdictions. This raises fundamental questions over how UK constitutional arrangements reify the territoriality of energy governance and structure the relationships between national and subnational multi-level decarbonisation processes.


Author(s):  
Viktoriia Makhovka ◽  
Olha Nesterenko

The essence of international business, its active development and expansion, that influence the integration of economic systems and intensification of business relations between countries, are considered. The attention is paid to the international market of the European Union, first of all to Polish-Ukrainian cooperation due to the modern development of international business. The importance of the development of trade and business between Ukraine and Poland is determined, taking into account close relations in the field of economy, politics, culture and historical connections. The legal framework between Ukraine and Poland is substantiated, which ensures the proper development of bilateral cooperation at the level of strategic partnership and emphasizes the presence of an active dialogue between countries. The main agreements between Ukraine and the European Union, which influence the economic cooperation between Ukraine and Poland, are considered, taking into account Polish membership in the EU. The implementation of special projects by the European Union to support the development of Polish-Ukrainian cooperation is determined. The increase of the intensity of economic exchange between Ukraine and Poland, the active development of trade and investment in various spheres of business and the growth of economic indicators are determined. The peculiarities of the development of the small business sector and its influence on the stabilization of socio-economic processes between European countries are substantiated, emphasizing Poland's experience in development of the small business as a driving force on the way to economic integration. The main aspects and characteristics of international business between Poland and Ukraine are determined and the main differences in doing business in these countries are revealed, emphasizing the perspectives of development.


Author(s):  
Yochai Benkler ◽  
Robert Faris ◽  
Hal Roberts

This chapter presents a model of the interaction of media outlets, politicians, and the public with an emphasis on the tension between truth-seeking and narratives that confirm partisan identities. This model is used to describe the emergence and mechanics of an insular media ecosystem and how two fundamentally different media ecosystems can coexist. In one, false narratives that reinforce partisan identity not only flourish, but crowd-out true narratives even when these are presented by leading insiders. In the other, false narratives are tested, confronted, and contained by diverse outlets and actors operating in a truth-oriented norms dynamic. Two case studies are analyzed: the first focuses on false reporting on a selection of television networks; the second looks at parallel but politically divergent false rumors—an allegation that Donald Trump raped a 13-yearold and allegations tying Hillary Clinton to pedophilia—and tracks the amplification and resistance these stories faced.


Author(s):  
Adam J. Silverstein

This book examines the ways in which the biblical book of Esther was read, understood, and used in Muslim lands, from ancient to modern times. It zeroes-in on a selection of case studies, covering works from various periods and regions of the Muslim world, including the Qur’an, premodern historical chronicles and literary works, the writings of a nineteenth-century Shia feminist, a twentieth-century Iranian dictionary, and others. These case studies demonstrate that Muslim sources contain valuable materials on Esther, which shed light both on the Esther story itself and on the Muslim peoples and cultures that received it. The book argues that Muslim sources preserve important, pre-Islamic materials on Esther that have not survived elsewhere, some of which offer answers to ancient questions about Esther, such as the meaning of Haman’s epithet in the Greek versions of the story, the reason why Mordecai refused to prostrate himself before Haman, and the literary context of the “plot of the eunuchs” to kill the Persian king. Furthermore, throughout the book we will see how each author’s cultural and religious background influenced his or her understanding and retelling of the Esther story: In particular, it will be shown that Persian Muslims (and Jews) were often forced to reconcile or choose between the conflicting historical narratives provided by their religious and cultural heritages respectively.


Modernism and Non-Translation proposes a new way of reading key modernist texts, including the work of canonical figures such as T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, and Ezra Pound. The topic of this book is the incorporation of untranslated fragments from various languages within modernist writing. It explores non-translation in modernist fiction, poetry, and other forms, with a principally European focus. The intention is to begin to answer a question that demands collective expertise: what are the aesthetic and cultural implications of non-translation for modernist literature? How did non-translation shape the poetics, and cultural politics, of some of the most important writers of this period? Twelve essays by leading scholars of modernism explore American, British, and Irish texts, alongside major French and German writers, and the wider modernist recovery of Classical languages. They explore non-translation from the dual perspectives of both ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’, unsettling that false opposition, and articulating in the process their individuality of expression and experience. The range explored indicates something of the reach and vitality of the matter of translation—and specifically non-translation—across a selection of poetry, fiction, and non-fictional prose, while focusing on mainly canonical voices. Offering a series of case studies, the volume aims to encourage further exploration of connections across languages and among writers. Together, the collection seeks to provoke and extend debate on the aesthetic, cultural, political, and conceptual dimensions of non-translation as an important yet hitherto neglected facet of modernism, helping to redefine our understanding of that movement. It demonstrates the rich possibilities of reading modernism through instances of non-translation.


Author(s):  
Paul Brooker ◽  
Margaret Hayward

The Conclusion points out that the preceding seven chapters’ examples and case studies have revealed some expected, and some unexpected conclusions. The six main cases revealed some expected uniformity in the leaders’ selection of rational methods. There was less uniformity, however, in the choice of the methods they emphasized, whether due to their personal preferences or to the circumstances they were facing. Two unexpected findings were the addition of a seventh appropriate rational method—learning—and the prevalence of dual-leadership teams. The conclusion goes on to suggest that this book’s theory and approach should be applied to versions of military leadership and to the political leadership of contemporary democracies.


Author(s):  
José Juan González Márquez ◽  
Margarita González Brambila

This chapter analyses the role of electricity storage as an innovative strategy to attain the Mexican Government’s goals regarding carbon dioxide emission reduction and energy transition. The survey includes the analysis of the different electricity storage technologies as well as the legal framework governing electricity storage as the fifth link of the energy supply chain from a comparative perspective. The authors discuss whether energy storage is a generation or a distribution/transmission asset. The chapter also analyses Mexico’s experiences in energy storage and briefly describes the way it is regulated in other jurisdictions. Finally, the authors propose the regulation of energy storage as a separate licensed activity.


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