Environmental policy creation : examining the Ontario municipal approach

This thesis examines the environmental content of municipal official plans in Ontario, Canada. It is an exploration of how environmental policy can be measured, categorized and compared at the municipal level. The legislative and societal framework from which municipal environmental policy emerges is examined before a method for measuring the level of the policy is proposed. The results of the policy measurement are then analyzed quantitatively for relationships with demographic characteristics and qualitatively for strength of language and level of policy as well as for spatial patterns in policy levels. From these analyses conclusions are drawn regarding the presence of significant variation in the environmental content found in municipal official plans. Conclusions are also made regarding the attention given to individual components of municipal environmental content. Finally, recommendations for future environmental policy integration into municipal official plans are suggested as are recommendations for future research.

Environmental policy creation : examining the Ontario municipal approach

This thesis examines the environmental content of municipal official plans in Ontario, Canada. It is an exploration of how environmental policy can be measured, categorized and compared at the municipal level. The legislative and societal framework from which municipal environmental policy emerges is examined before a method for measuring the level of the policy is proposed. The results of the policy measurement are then analyzed quantitatively for relationships with demographic characteristics and qualitatively for strength of language and level of policy as well as for spatial patterns in policy levels. From these analyses conclusions are drawn regarding the presence of significant variation in the environmental content found in municipal official plans. Conclusions are also made regarding the attention given to individual components of municipal environmental content. Finally, recommendations for future environmental policy integration into municipal official plans are suggested as are recommendations for future research.

Strategic Environmental Assessment: Current Status, Practices and Challenges in Bangladesh

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is an appraisal device of policies, plans, and programs and has evolved from an alternative of environmental impact assessment (EIA) to a potential environmental policy integration tool in national policy planning. Bangladesh has likewise rendered SEA in its environmental evaluation framework to consider environmental and social outcomes of policies, plans, and programs(PPPs), but the practice and current situation of SEA in Bangladesh is unknown to all. Considering this crisis the study was carried out to analyze the present status of SEA as well as to find out the constraints for successful SEA implementation in Bangladesh as an approach to integrate environmental considerations in the PPPs. The data were collected through multiple methodological techniques including document review as well as survey by standard questionnaire and key informant interviews (KIIs) with different stakeholders of the various backgrounds of Bangladesh related to policymaking. The study showed that SEA first appeared in Bangladesh in 2006 with the support of the World Bank as a donor agency and the first SEA was done in Bangladesh on the Dhaka metropolitan development plan in 2007. But through the enactment of the National Environmental Policy 2018, SEA gained formal status in the country. Now, This study also revealed that most of the organizations (government and non-government) i.e. 55.77 percent never practice SEA whereas only 15.38 percent of organizations of Bangladesh practice SEA on regular basis, and 28.85 percent of organizations practiced partially for assessing SEA in their proposed PPPs. A diverse list of constraints such as lack of political will, lacking awareness of SEA, inadequate finance, weak enforcement of environmental law, and inadequate knowledge of the implementation of SEA in PPPs were identified. Therefore, awareness building, capacity development, and proper training on SEA in Bangladesh are urgently needed.

The UN 2030 Agenda and the Quest for Policy Integration: A Literature Review

The adoption of the UN 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represents a milestone in international sustainability politics. The broad and ambitious agenda calls for a reconsideration of established principles and practices of sustainability governance. This article examines how the 2030 Agenda changes the notion of policy integration, which represents a fundamental principle of sustainability governance. In general, policy integration denotes forms of cross-cutting policymaking to address the complexity of real-world problems. In the context of the sustainability discourse, the concept has long been interpreted as environmental policy integration, referring to the integration of environmental concerns into other sectoral policies. Based on a review of the current SDG literature, we examine whether and how this interpretation has changed. In so doing, the reasons (why?), objects (what?) and modes (how?) of policy integration in the context of the 2030 Agenda are specified. The analysis reveals that the 2030 Agenda promotes a comprehensive, reciprocal, and complex form of goal integration which differs markedly from environmental policy integration. This novel understanding of policy integration for sustainable development calls for future research on its impact and relevance in political practice.

Environmental Policy Integration in the Energy Sector of China: The Roles of the Institutional Context

The rapid growth of China’s renewable energy market and production capacity has attracted worldwide attention. Environmental policy integration in the energy sector and the institutional background behind this growth have seen little examination. In this paper, we present an assessment of environmental policy integration (EPI), attempting to reveal how the institutional factors facilitate EPI in the energy sector of China. A qualitative analytical framework involving normative, organizational, and procedural dimensions, incorporating multiple pieces of quantitative evidence, was applied. The results show that an ambitious and long-term normative vision covering political will, social backing, and cultural foundation in China is indispensable to the EPI process in the energy sector. The energy agency’s trans-sector cooperation in policy-making has been established to overcome the sectoral compartmentalization. China’s EPI in energy has a relatively complete and stable regulating system but, at the same time, it is expected to obtain more benefits from market cultivation and public participation. In this process, advantages such as the co-evolution of the green energy innovation, market, and society do exist; however, this market-oriented approach may bring the risk of economic and societal disturbances when interest-driven production capacity growth far surpasses market and societal requirements. This potential risk needs to be handled and prevented by strong governmental guidance and support. The continuous ambitious and long-term visioning of EPI, sufficient governmental funds, and a proactive industrial plan for renewable energy, are suggested.