Evaluating Urban Governance

2019 ◽  
pp. 46-78
Author(s):  
Sara Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Institution Building ◽  
City Governments ◽  
Physical Context ◽  
Change Mitigation

This chapter develops a framework for understanding and evaluating the tools available to, and deployed by, city governments for governing, foregrounding the “how” of urban climate change mitigation. The framework has three components. First, city governments make choices about the policies and governing modes they will use to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These choices represent each city's unique route to climate change mitigation and are shaped by the broader social, political, institutional, and physical context. Second, regardless of the specific route a city chooses, there are shared governing strategies city governments can and do use to mobilize participants and resources: institution building, coalition building, and capacity building. These strategies allow city governments to reduce key sources of uncertainty, mobilize the participants, and coordinate the resources needed for change. Third, evaluating urban climate change governance requires evaluating its impacts. These are both reductions in city-scale GHG emissions and broader changes in the city, and beyond, catalyzed by efforts to reduce urban GHG emissions.

Prospects and Consequences of Repowering Cities

2019 ◽  
pp. 165-180
Author(s):  
Sara Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Scaling Up ◽  
Building Capacity ◽  
Smart Governance ◽  
Change Mitigation

This concluding chapter highlights the book's major findings and explores the remaining challenges and tradeoffs inherent in today's locally led climate change agenda. While the cities have made demonstrable progress on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, they are now facing the challenge of scaling up their efforts as new targets for 2030 loom. The chapter then discusses ways the cities can and are using the governing strategies to do this: by building participatory decision-making institutions, building capacity for climate “smart” governance, and expanding and stabilizing the coalition for climate change mitigation. However, the need for a “big tent” approach to climate change mitigation to make the citywide changes necessary for reducing GHG emissions 80 percent increases the complexity of interests and challenges of coordination. The scope of a viable urban climate change coalition may ultimately set the limits of a locally led mitigation agenda.

The Means Behind the Methods

2019 ◽  
pp. 116-147
Author(s):  
Sara Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
York City ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Ballot Initiatives ◽  
Change Mitigation

This chapter assesses how New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto have used the three governing strategies—institution building, coalition building, and capacity building—to support their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Each strategy reduces key sources of uncertainty that arise when taking up the new and challenging issue of climate change mitigation. The governing strategies facilitate action on climate change and channel resources to the effort. In this way, the strategies underpin and support governance for climate change mitigation regardless of the particular mode of governing or source of emissions being targeted. These strategies have manifested in different ways: while New York City and Toronto have focused on building stakeholder coalitions invested in and informing city government programs, Los Angeles has focused more on mobilizing voters willing to support ballot initiatives.

Progress or Pipe Dream?

2019 ◽  
pp. 17-45
Author(s):  
Sara Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Wicked Problem ◽  
City Governments ◽  
Ghg Reduction ◽  
Pipe Dream ◽  
Change Mitigation

This chapter examines how and why city governments have taken it upon themselves to set ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets. More importantly, it raises the question of whether and how this shift in city leaders' ambitions and commitments can lead to meaningful, locally led reductions in GHG emissions. Urban climate change mitigation is a wicked problem, one steeped in complexity and uncertainty. Unsurprisingly then, the empirical evidence of progress in urban mitigation shows an uneven landscape of successes and failures. While there have been good strides in understanding why cities are acting and the kinds of cities that seem to be making more progress than others, people know much less about how city governments go from climate change ambitions to reshaping the urban landscape in their image. The ambitions and leadership of cities are generating optimism for climate change solutions despite political swings and recalcitrance at other levels of government. However, without an understanding of whether and how city governments can make good on these commitments, such optimism remains largely unfounded. People must then go beyond assessments of the motivations and challenges cities face in their work to reduce GHG emissions and give greater attention to the processes and strategies that repower cities.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Link between Low Carbon Reductions Strategies and Its Performance in the Context of Climate Change: A Carbon Footprint of a Wood-Frame Residential Building in Quebec, Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Padilla-Rivera ◽  
Ben Amor ◽  
Pierre Blanchet
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Quebec City ◽  
Baseline Scenario ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Building Sector ◽  
Change Mitigation

The design and study of low carbon buildings is a major concern in a modern economy due to high carbon emissions produced by buildings and its effects on climate change. Studies have investigated (CFP) Carbon Footprint of buildings, but there remains a need for a strong analysis that measure and quantify the overall degree of GHG emissions reductions and its relationship with the effect on climate change mitigation. This study evaluates the potential of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the building sector by evaluating the (CFP) of four hotpots approaches defined in line with commonly carbon reduction strategies, also known as mitigation strategies. CFP framework is applied to compare the (CC) climate change impact of mitigation strategies. A multi-story timber residential construction in Quebec City (Canada) was chosen as a baseline scenario. This building has been designed with the idea of being a reference of sustainable development application in the building sector. In this scenario, the production of materials and construction (assembly, waste management and transportation) were evaluated. A CFP that covers eight actions divided in four low carbon strategies, including: low carbon materials, material minimization, reuse and recycle materials and adoption of local sources and use of biofuels were evaluated. The results of this study shows that the used of prefabricated technique in buildings is an alternative to reduce the CFP of buildings in the context of Quebec. The CC decreases per m2 floor area in baseline scenario is up to 25% than current buildings. If the benefits of low carbon strategies are included, the timber structures can generate 38% lower CC than the original baseline scenario. The investigation recommends that CO2eq emissions reduction in the design and implementation of residential constructions as climate change mitigation is perfectly feasible by following different working strategies. It is concluded that if the four strategies were implemented in current buildings they would have environmental benefits by reducing its CFP. The reuse wood wastes into production of particleboard has the greatest environmental benefit due to temporary carbon storage.

Urban Climate Change Mitigation in Europe: Looking at and beyond the Role of Population Density

2014 ◽  
Vol 140 (1) ◽  
pp. 04013003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Hans Baur ◽  
Maximilian Thess ◽  
Birgit Kleinschmit ◽  
Felix Creutzig
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Change Mitigation

Carbon Reduction in the Post-Kyoto era. Have we progressed? A comparison

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-37
Author(s):  
Bruno Zeller ◽  
Michael Longo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Global Environment ◽  
Carbon Reduction ◽  
Legal Proceedings ◽  
The World ◽  
Change Mitigation ◽  
The Eu

In a fragmented global environment, the efforts of state and non-state actors are important in assessing the state of play on climate change mitigation actions around the world. This article will consider from a comparative perspective the various legislative models for addressing climate change and the reduction of GHG emissions with particular focus on the EU, USA, Australia and Switzerland. As legal developments are not limited to legislative schemes, this article will examine the voluntary carbon offset market and other trade related solutions to GHG emissions which have emerged in the absence of mandatory limitation systems. Also warranting attention are the actions of private parties in common law jurisdictions to bring legal proceedings against power companies for damage caused by climate change. Together, these developments demonstrate that climate change abatement is not the sole remit of the legislature.

scholarly journals Growing our future: Assessing the outcome of afforestation programs in Ontario, Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 97 (02) ◽  
pp. 179-190
Author(s):  
Georgina K. Magnus ◽  
Elizabeth Celanowicz ◽  
Mihai Voicu ◽  
Mark Hafer ◽  
Juha M. Metsaranta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Auxiliary Data ◽  
Carbon Budget Model ◽  
Change Mitigation

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requires its signatories, including Canada, to estimate and report their annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals. Forests are an important natural resource as they slow the accumulation of atmospheric carbon through the process of carbon sequestration. Due to the role of forests as carbon sinks, governments consider afforestation projects as feasible climate change mitigation strategies. This article outlines a spatially-explicit approach to validating afforestation data in Ontario, Canada. Validation is a user-supervised process that uses satellite imagery, remote sensing tools, and other auxiliary data to confirm the presence of seedlings planted through Forests Ontario’s 50 Million Tree program. Of the 12 466 hectares assessed, 83% is identified as afforested, 6% is not afforested and 10% is not determined. The area classified as successful afforestation is used as input for the Generic Carbon Budget Model (GCBM), to simulate afforestation effects on carbon stocks. Our findings show the afforestation activities will create a small carbon sink by 2060. From this project, it is evident that spatial validation of afforestation data is feasible, although the collection of additional standardized auxiliary data is recommended for future afforestation projects, if carbon benefits are to be reported.

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