Blowing policy bubbles: rethinking emissions targets and low-carbon energy policies in the U.K.

The issue of proportionality is central to climate policy debates about setting targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the development of low-carbon energy. In effect, these debates centre on whether the perceived social costs outweigh the benefits of policies and, if not, whether this may lead to over-investment or ‘policy bubbles’. Political attention, agenda setting and policy image are all crucial drivers of ambitious policy formation, as seen in the case of the United Kingdom's (U.K.) Climate Change Act (2008). However, as political salience waned and economic depression dragged on, the cost of long-term climate targets has been reconsidered. Based on documentary analysis and 33 interviews with central political actors, this article presents a detailed account of how economic arguments have been used to reinterpret and challenge policies, using the heuristics of ‘over-investment’ and ‘policy bubbles’. Ultimately, arguments about proportionality hinge on which costs and benefits are considered. In the U.K., economic and technical framings are typically prioritised, but they do not explain contradictory and politically motivated policy decisions. We discuss these dynamics within the context of maturing renewable energy technologies, high energy prices and the U.K.’s cross-party consensus approach to climate politics.     

Environmental policy implementation during the economic crisis: an analysis of European member state ‘leader-laggard’ dynamics

ABSTRACT

The long-standing debate on environmental policy ‘leaders’ and ‘laggards’ lends itself to a new analysis following with the advent of the 2008 economic crisis. This paper, therefore, asks the question to what extent do European Union (EU) member states have the capacity and willingness to implement EU environmental policy amid austerity, budget cuts, and rising costs over the period 2008–2014. Building upon previous studies, 26 interviews with European, Greek and United Kingdom participants and records of environmental infringements, the paper provides a contemporary picture of the environmental policy ‘leader-laggard’ dynamic in Europe. The findings demonstrate that the impact of the economic crisis seems contestable and varies amongst member states, while the reduction in environmental infringements appears to have a link with the decrease in economic activity. Although environmental policy ‘leaders’ maintain patterns of strong implementation, the improved implementation performance of some ‘laggards’ reflects a shift in their implementation patterns amid a period of intense political and economic controversies.     

The importance of skillful community leaders: understanding municipal pesticide policy change in Calgary and Halifax

This paper focuses on policy change under scientific uncertainty. This is done by exploring two case studies of Canadian pesticide policy evolution applied to Sabatier's ‘Advocacy Coalition Framework’. ‘Stakeholder’ and ‘narrative policy’ analyses are emphasised to understand pesticide policy changes in Calgary (public education without a restrictive by-law) and Halifax (restrictive by-law). The parallel case studies consist of qualitative interviews with members of pesticide policy advisory committees in each city and a content analysis of local newspaper articles. Key resources mobilised by coalitions to achieve their policy goals include skillful leadership, and the use by those leaders of the media to disseminate coalition narratives. Further, the context of policy change contributed to the scenarios whereby pro-by-law grassroots activists were particularly successful in Halifax and anti-by-law city employees were most influential in Calgary.     

Alberta's oil sands reclamation policy trajectory: the role of tense layering,policy stretching,and policy patching in long-term policy dynamics

As the Canadian oil sands development matures, an increasingly important policy activity is reclamation. Reclamation has received limited attention compared with the broader discussion of oil sands expansion, however, and its past direction and future trajectory are unclear. Recent moves to reform the policy in Alberta have been interpreted simultaneously as a major change and a marginal adaptation to the existing framework. This article employs a historical-institutional perspective to help reconcile this debate and further understanding of changes to Alberta's oil sands reclamation policies over the past half century. It traces the factors and outlines the processes which have driven its evolution since 1963 with special attention paid to the 2011 Oil Sands Progressive Reclamation Strategy, the most recent attempt to reform oil sands reclamation policy. The article reveals a complex long-term pattern of policy development in which processes of ‘tense layering’ of new initiatives on top of old elements resulted in a constantly shifting policy landscape as existing policy instruments and settings were ‘stretched’ to cover new circumstances but failed to resolve tensions between successive policy layers. After 1993, however, a more reflective process was put into place in which policy feedback informed alterations intended to reduce or remove tensions between successive layers. Such a policy ‘patching’ process is shown to have helped resolve tensions associated with earlier stretching of the existing regime and adds to the vocabulary of more general studies of policy dynamics.     

Re‐evaluating the Contribution of Social Capital in Achieving Sustainable Development

The last decade has seen considerable interest in the concept of social capital and there have been a number of publications focused around the concept. A wide range of claims have been made for the analytic potential of social capital leading some to question the concept's continued value. We think that the concept still has considerable value if used in a careful and rigorous way. We further think that the concept has particular value when considering policy for sustainable development. However, just as sustainable development is a multi‐faceted concept, this application requires a multi‐faceted reading of social capital. Having concluded that a clearer typology of social capital is needed, we propose a threefold typology, adding the new category of ‘bracing’ social capital to the more commonly used distinction between ‘bonding’ and ‘bridging’ social capital. We also address the issues of what social capital can do and how it actually works, specifically in the context of policy for sustainable development.     

TILE RATIONALE FOR OHIO'S DETERGENT PHOSPHORUS BAN1

ABSTRACT: Ohio signed into law a detergent phosphorus ban on March 26, 1988. This law limits the elemental phosphorus content of household laundry detergents to 0.5 percent in all 35 Lake Erie counties in Ohio by 1990. Ohio's detergent phosphorus ban will help non-compliant municipal wastewater treatment plants achieve compliance with the 1 mg/L effluent phosphorus standard. By limiting the phosphorus content of household laundry detergents, Ohio will also benefit from less phosphorus entering surface waters from combined sewer overflows, communities with treatment plant bypasses, and riparian homes with septic tanks. This is important because most of the phosphorus in laundry detergents is in the bioavailable form and Ohio's Lake Erie shoreline is particularly sensitive to Cladophora problems. When viewed in conjunction with reduced chemical costs for phosphorus removal and savings in sludge disposal costs, Ohio's detergent phosphorus ban is a pragmatic component of an international phosphorus management strategy to protect the Great Lakes.     

Maturity management: A new mineral policy for Canada

A new mineral policy began to emerge in the early 1980s in Canada. Both its goals and instruments are detailed and contrasted with the goals and instruments of previous mineral policies. It is suggested that the two major types of policy instruments of the 1980s are productivity management (especially R & D and innovation) and synergy management (the achievement of external economies, especially via procurement, regional and trade instruments). The mining industry's rapid adjustment to the brutal competitive realities of the 1980s in cutting costs and increasing productivity—a model of industrial restructuring—is discussed in relation to emerging trends in taxation, including the possibly fruitless search for a ‘neutral’ tax system.     

An examination of the efficacy of the precautionary principle as a robust environmental planning and management protocol

The precautionary principle is regularly cited in cases that involve development in eco-sensitive locations. We investigated whether the precautionary principle provides the basis for a coherent framework to prevent environmental harm, and does it work in practice? We suggest that, in principle, the precautionary principle makes good sense. In practice, however, it is imprecise in policy and law and fails to fulfil its promise because it is loosely defined and thus lacks substance and clarity. Consequently, it operates in a framework that is ambiguous, leaving it open to manipulation by discretionary powers. To counter such deficiencies, human-induced environmental harm should be formally observed as ‘criminogenic’ and environmental protection prioritised against which other competing priorities (e.g., ‘year on year’ economic growth) are measured. This would overcome the politico-legal obfuscation and contestations of climate change policy that currently impedes the precautionary principle's practical application.     

What are the implications of human rights for minerals taxation?

This article examines the relationship between a state's taxation of mineral revenues and the human rights obligation to use ‘maximum available resources’ to further citizens' welfare. These both have implications for understanding the other but there has been little attention to their interaction.Contemporary (economic and policy) approaches to mineral taxation revolve around economic rent and providing a ‘neutral’ economic environment that does not influence investment decisions. There is no reference to human rights obligations—these are just part of the state's general responsibilities for which it can legitimately raise taxes. Taxation analysis largely ignores whether the state wants money to ensure there is adequate food for the population, or instead to stage the Miss Universe pageant.Human rights has relevance for the state's management of resources. The requirement for states to apply ‘maximum available resources’ to fulfil human rights suggests that mineral extraction (and taxation) should occur as fast as possible to be applied for the human rights of the current population A more considered analysis weighs against such a literal interpretation. Nevertheless, the requirement of using ‘maximum available resources’ to fulfil human rights has important implications for mineral taxation.     

中国煤电企业环境压力测试

中国煤电行业的发展伴随着各种环境风险,本文以典型煤电企业为例,在产能过剩、能效标准提高、环境保护税、全国碳市场、水资源税和非水可再生能源规划目标的风险约束下,建立环境成本内部化和环境风险分析工具,考虑不同压力情境下对煤电企业价值的影响,构建环境风险影响财务成本的压力测试框架。结果表明,对单个风险而言,产能过剩和碳市场风险对企业价值的影响是大多数地区在不同情景中面临的主要风险驱动因素。对于综合风险压力测试而言,各地区1 000MW超超临界机组乐观情景及悲观情景的企业价值距合理回报预期企业价值相差小,而300MW和600MW亚临界机组因能效水平低、经营成本高等原因在环境风险压力下企业价值偏离合理回报较多。随着环境风险严重程度的不断增加,环境压力测试有助于煤电企业和金融机构了解环境风险对企业财务状况的影响,从而对投资决策产生影响。     

How do Local Governments in Mexico City Manage Global Warming?

ABSTRACT

Cities are both significant emitters of carbon dioxide and centres of innovations that may contribute to de-carbonizing our societies. More voices claim therefore that local authorities should be included in efforts to mitigate climate change. However, few studies have analysed how local authorities manage carbon and climate in urban areas in middle- and low-income countries. Yet, the institutional settings and governance structures of such cities are different from those prevailing in cities of wealthy countries. This paper aims to fill this gap by exploring: (a) whether and—if so—how local authorities in Mexico City actually ‘manage’ carbon emissions; (b) how the city's evolving governance structures function and whether they ‘fit’ with the problem they address; and (c) how institutional capacity constrains authorities' management efforts. The paper suggests that policy networks and research groups have been critical in launching a climate agenda. Nevertheless, this has not been enough to push effective policies. Policymaking has been constrained by two sets of institutional factors: the problem of fit and a lack of institutional capacity.     

污水处理厂化学除磷精确控制系统研究——以山东某污水处理厂为例

我国总磷排放标准日趋严格,污水处理厂为保证出水总磷达标,过量投加化学除磷剂,造成资源浪费.为在出水水质达标的基础上节省化学除磷剂添加量,以山东某污水处理厂为例设计了化学除磷精确控制系统.在充分考虑仪器故障潜在风险的前提下,根据进水磷酸盐负荷实时调整药剂投加量,采用"前馈+反馈"控制的模式,实现加药过程的自动化及智能化....     

The development of route knowledge: Multiple dimensions?

Children are better at way-finding than at externalizing their spatial knowledge in abstract settings (e.g. in tests of route recall). It is suggested that this is due to experimenters' tendencies to use single criteria for development, such as the acquisition of landmark knowledge. Children of different ages may be using different types of information in their route representations. However, if only one aspect of the child's knowledge is examined at a time, then developmental changes of style may go unnoticed. Previous experiments have tested children's spatial knowledge as if it were qualitatively similar to that of adults, which is not always appropriate.A study is reported in which young schoolchildren were asked simply to describe routes in a familiar area. There was a developmental shift from a ‘Directions—End Information’ format to one of ‘Landmark—End Information’. From this it is concluded that children may be capable of using different information earlier in life, which is adequate to allow way-finding but which has not been recorded by the traditional unidimensional measures of spatial knowledge. A case is made for the use of combined measures when investigating the many skills involved in environmental cognition.     

中国大型发电上市公司ESG评价体系开发与分值研究

如今,世界各地上市公司正将利润最大化这一短期目标转向环境、社会及管治(ESG)可持续发展这一长期目标,更加清楚地认识到ESG已经构成了企业风险的重要来源之一,并可能影响公司的财务绩效。本文基于状态、压力、响应与层次分析(PSR-AHP)指标分类与权重配比方法构建中国大型发电上市公司ESG评级体系,并应用该评价体系对中国大型发电上市公司ESG绩效进行研究。结果发现,其ESG综合得分波动性大,在研究期最后两年走势不甚理想,其中社会绩效得分及其趋势表现优于环境及管治绩效;在环境及社会绩效方面,响应性指标表现优于压力性指标,而状态性指标走势较为稳定。最后,本文从披露深度及质量、第三方介入、奖惩及强制性披露措施等方面给出政策建议。     

Policies towards proposals for large-scale natural resource projects: Attenuation versus postponement

The authors examine the problem of dealing with the environmental impact of uranium mining in Australia and consider its wider implications. Government, faced with unknown environmental and social damage from the initiation of uranium mining in northern Australia, has initiated an environmental impact assessment procedure. This requires the appellant company to provide information about the proposed project and its alternatives and is often followed by a period of ‘postponement’. This is compared with an alternative procedure, ‘attenuation’, allowing the project to proceed on a reduced scale in order to obtain information. Comparisons are made between the information which might be obtained by the two alternative procedures and the expected relative benefits and costs from a postponed project and an attenuated project.     

Two ways of defining sustainable mobility: Autolib’ and BeMobility

Abstract

European cities have emerged as laboratories for ‘sustainable mobility'. In the last few years, they have supported numerous electric car projects which combine clean engine technologies with offers on public or shared mobility. This paper compares two ongoing public electric car services in Berlin (BeMobility) and Paris (Autolib’). We explain how both projects shape future visions of sustainable mobility and transform regional transport systems in specific ways through their performative impact as local transport policy tools. Focusing on the socio-economic and political processes through which both projects were conceived and put into practice, we explain their differences as they reflect participating actors' interests in a French versus German industrial and transport policy context after the economic crisis in 2008. We find that whereas BeMobility integrates electric cars as one element in Berlin's intermodal transport system, and thus is centred around ‘intermodality' as the central vision of sustainable transport, Autolib’ in Paris essentially reproduces the dominant mode of private passenger car transport through adding a shared electric car fleet.     

Assessing the value of CO2 capture ready in new-build pulverised coal-fired power plants in China

Making new plants CO₂ capture ready (CCR) would enable them to retrofit to capture CO₂ at a later date at lower cost when the appropriate policy and/or economic drivers are in place. In order to understand the economic value and investment characteristics of making new plants CCR in China, a typical 600 MW pulverised coal-fired ultra-supercritical power plant, locating in Guangdong province, was examined. Combined with an engineering assessment, costs were estimated for different CCR scenarios. To analyze CCR investment opportunities, the paper applies a cash flow model for valuing capture options and CCR investment. Results were obtained by Monte-Carlo simulation, based on engineering surveys and an IEA GHG CCR study, as well as plant performance information and expert projections on carbon prices, coal prices and electricity prices.CCR investments are justified by factors such as higher retrofitting probabilities, lower early closure probabilities and fair economic return. However, the economic case for CCR largely depends on two factors: (a) whether the original plant is retrofittable without CCR; and (b) the type of investments made, for example, investments essential to CCR tend to be more economic than additional non-essential CCR features such as clutched low pressure turbines. The carbon price and discount rate were found to have significant impacts on the economics of CCR. Overall, it appears that the value of the ‘capture options’ that CCR generates for retrofitting CCS is significant, and so could justify a modest CCR investment, even assuming the original plant is retrofittable without CCR. It was also found the value of CCR might be significantly understated if the range of potential retrofitting dates is artificially constrained.     

ESTIMATING THE BENEFITS OF PHOSPHORUS POLLUTION REDUCTIONS: AN APPLICATION IN THE MINNESOTA RIVER1

ABSTRACT: In order to make economically efficient decisions about water quality improvements, data on both the costs and benefits of these improvements is needed. However, there has been little research on the benefits of reducing phosphorus pollution which implies that policy decisions are not able to make the comparison of costs and benefits that is essential for economic efficiency. This research attempts to ameliorate this situation by providing an estimate of the benefits of a 40 percent reduction in phosphorus pollution in the Minnesota River. A 1997 mail survey gathered information on Minnesota residents'use of a recreational site on the Minnesota River, the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, and their willingness to pay for phosphorus reductions in the Minnesota River. The random effects probit model used in this research to investigate household willingness to pay for phosphorus pollution reductions in the Minnesota River incorporates recent innovations in nonmarket valuation methodology by using both revealed and stated preference data. This model estimated annual household willingness to pay for phosphorus reductions in the Minnesota River at $140. These results may be used in combination with cost estimates to determine the economic efficiency of phosphorus clean up.     

California households' willingness to pay for ‘green’ electronics

Concerns about rapid increases in the volume of electronic waste (e-waste) and its potential toxicity have sharpened policy makers' interest for extended producer responsibility to encourage manufacturers of consumer electronic devices (CEDs) to ‘design for the environment’. This paper examines consumer willingness to pay for ‘green’ electronics based on a 2004 mail survey of California households. Using ordered logit models, it was found that significant predictors of willingness to pay for ‘greener’ computers and cell phones include age, income, education, beliefs about the role of government for improving environmental quality, as well as environmental attitudes and behaviors, but neither gender nor political affiliation. Although most respondents are willing to pay only a 1% premium for ‘greener’ CEDs, innovation and EU directives may soon make them competitive with conventional CEDs.     

The role of NIMBY in opposing the siting of wind farms: evidence from Greece

This paper aims to assess the relative importance of a NIMBY (‘Not-In-My-Back-Yard’) stance on an individual's opposition to the siting of a wind farm vis-à-vis other predictors, such as perceived effects (costs, risks and benefits associated with the project), perceived fairness of the siting decision and societal trust. Data originate from two case studies, a small wind farm of just two wind turbines in southern Greece and a mega-project of 153 turbines on the Greek island of Lesvos (aggregate N = 334). We use structural equation modelling (SEM) for testing the theoretically-suggested relations between the various constructs. We find that NIMBY is not the most important predictor of opposition while it is strongly correlated with other predictors, such as the perceived unfairness of the siting decision as well as the risks and costs associated with the wind farm. These latter findings undermine the common-sense idea that wishing a wind farm out of one's vicinity (‘Not-In-My-Back-Yard’) is an example of mere ‘free-riding’. Since the fit of the SEM models was found to be moderate, we discuss the limitations of our study and the implications of our findings as well as suggesting pathways for future research.