National Governance

Question 1

How national responses characterised in the international climate change politics

Answer 1

• Geopolitically charged
• Crude breaking up of the world into different blocks
  
  • EU
  • Annex I non-EU countries that have ratified Kyoto
  • Annex I countries not ratified
  • Non- Annex I countries that have ratified the Protocol
• Common but differentiated responsibilities
• North should take action ahead of south has dominated international negotiations over the last two decades

Question 2

What is CO₂lonailism?

Answer 2

• North applying to pollute by funding emissions reductions or sequrestration in the South
• CDM under Kyoto
• Excaberting social inequalities

Question 3

How did Copenhagen in 2009 shape the national landscape?

Answer 3

• BASIC Group (Brazil, SA, India and China)
• Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC)

Question 4

Types of national strategies?

Answer 4

• Emissions trading
• Carbon tax
• Feed-in tariffs
• Emissions standards

Question 5

What shapes national policy?

Answer 5

• What factors influence a countries approach to climate change?
• What priorities influence these factors?
• How are countries engaging strategically with climate change?
• What types of power relations exist between countries?

Question 6

How are UK leading from the front in terms of national policy?

Answer 6

• Thatcher speech to UN in 1989 signalled UK emerging as climate leader
• Led to formation of IPCC in 1988
• New Labour government pledges to go beyond the UK’s Kyoto target with its won target of 20% reduction by 2010
• In early 2000s, Climate Change Levy and pilot Emissions Trading Scheme
• During same time applied pressure on renewables and energy efficiency

Question 7

What approach is it tempting to characterise UK climate politics within?

Answer 7

• A Downsian ‘Issue Attention Cycle’ (Carter, 2014)
• Cycles of attention about an environmental issue where public and media make an ‘alarmed discovery’ and politicians quickly promise solutions but soon focus on another issue

Question 8

What is China’s initial approach to Climate Change?

Answer 8

• Low historic emissions
• Prioritise economic growth and development

Question 9

How is China’s recent approach to Climate Change changed?

Answer 9

• Geopolitics
  
  • Will to lead and gain influence on international stage
• Doing its ‘fair share’?
  
  • Emissions
  • 2nd largest emitter
  • Not ambitious enough targets
  • Announced to close 500 coal mines in February 2017
• Renewables and Green Technology
  
  • Pledge 20% clean energy by 2030
  • Owns biggest wind turbine manufacturer in the world

Question 10

What is China’s impact on international negotiations?

Answer 10

• Geopolitical rivalry with US
• Prioritise economic growth
• COP 15 describes as enigmatic and obstructive (Christoff, 2010)
• Motivated more by climate finance rather than genuine worry in climate change
• Political reform necessary to allow China to fully participate in international debate
  
  • Rejects western ideas of rights and democracy

Question 11

What is Brazil’s stance on climate change?

Answer 11

• Taken more domestic stance on policies by implementing national strategies of deforestation programs and targeting renewable energy.
• As a member of BASIC, Brazil has resisted international oversight

Question 12

What are the different actors involved in Brazil’s climate change strategy?

Answer 12

• International: REDD+ scheme
• National: Brazilian Development Fund, public surveys
  
  • Brazilian Development Bank helps to fund combat deforestation in Brazilian Amazon under REDD+ mechanism
  • Globescan Radar study shows that Brazilians have highest levels of environment concern in 2000s
• Local: importance of indigenous knowledge
  
  • Land protection and conservation initiative to crate biodiversity-rich landscapes and promoting sustainable land use

Question 13

What is the approach taken by Small Island Development States (SIDS)?

Answer 13

• Contributed little to globalc limate change problem
• Little they can do regarding mitigation
• Climate change adaption is essential for them

Kelman, 2016

Question 14

What is the political economy approach to climate change politics?

Answer 14

• States in relation to their role in a capitalist society
• Role of state in maintaining conditions for capital accumulation
  
  • Those who organize process of capital gain great structural power with regard to state decision making, i.e. private financial sector
  • Conca’s observation (1993) that only those environmental initiatives that do not threaten the interests of industrial capitalism that succeed
• Helps to explain countries’ positions in global climate negotiations and dynamics of their climate policy making

Newell and Paterson (1998)

Question 15

What two assumptions does the regime framework rest upon?

Answer 15

• States can be treated as unitary rational actors
• States and market are two separate spheres of human activity

Newell and Paterson (1998)