Humans and the environmentLECTURE 1Environment and P.docx

Humans and the
environment
LECTURE 1
Environment and Policy
Dr Aideen Foley [email protected]
Objective
Explore environmental policy with
an emphasis on the actors and
values that shape it.
Key content
Environmental and social principles
relating to policy-making
Regulatory, market-based and non-
legislative policy tools.
Environmental policy challenges,
successes and failures

Module
overview
1. Humans and the environment
2. Environmental principles
3. Social principles in
environmental policy-making
4. Environmental governance and
participation
5. Fundamentals of sustainability
6. Environmental regulation
7. Environmental issues as market
problems
8. Environment and business
responsibility
9. Climate change policy
10. Climate change ethics
Module
overview

Assessment
2 x 3500 word learning journals.
1 question to consider each week.
Critical thinking is key.
1-5 due by 6pm, November 12th
6-10 due by 6pm, January 14th
Assignment clinics:
Lectures 5 and 10.
Humans and the Environment
How do people ‘value’ the environment?
How do people perceive environmental risk?
Key concepts
▪ Environmental worldviews
▪ Cultural Theory of risk
▪ Political economy of risk
Why does this matter?
If we consider misplaced values and

perceptions as one cause of
environmental problems, we need to
understand theoretical frameworks that
attempt to explain peoples’
relationships with the environment in
order to respond to that.
1. Environmental worldviews
Environmental values, like all psychological and social
constructs,
are found ‘within’ human individuals, institutions and societies,
and find expression and representation across all human
activities, relationships, and cultural products.
Reser, J.P. and Bentrupperbäumer, J.M., 2005. What and where
are environmental values? Assessing the
impacts of current diversity of use of ‘environmental’and
‘World Heritage’values. Journal of Environmental
Psychology, 25(2), pp.125-146.

Ecocentric
The person is not above or
outside of nature. E.g. Deep
ecology, eco-feminism.
Biocentric
Does not distinguish
between humans and other
life on Earth.
Environmental worldviews
Commonly shared beliefs that give groups of people a sense
of how humans should interact with the environment.
Anthropocentric
Humans should manage
Earth's resources for our
own benefit. E.g. Planetary
management, stewardship,
‘no-problem’.
“…sowing and planting of trees had to
be regarded as a national duty of
every landowner, in order to stop the
destructive over-exploitation of

natural resources…”
John Evelyn (1662), English writer, gardener and diarist
Planetary management
“It is a well-provisioned ship, this on which we
sail through space. If the bread and beef above
decks seem to grow scarce, we but open a
hatch and there is a new supply, of which
before we never dreamed. And very great
command over the services of others comes to
those who as the hatches are opened are
permitted to say, "This is mine!"
Henry George, Progress and Poverty (1879).
The ‘no problem’ school
Managing the planet as a responsibility,
not a right.
Humans have an ethical responsibility to

be caring managers, or stewards of the
Earth and its resources.
Stewardship
…it refers to the essential role individuals and communities
play in the careful management of our common natural
and cultural wealth, both now and for future generations…
Stewardship emphasizes the integration of people and
nature, not the attempted isolation of one from the other.
Brown, J. and Mitchell, B., 2000. The stewardship approach and
its relevance for
protected landscapes. In The George Wright Forum (Vol. 17,
No. 1, pp. 70 -79).
George Wright Society.
Bio-centrism
“If we choose to let
conjecture run wild, then
animals, our fellow brethren
in pain, diseases, death,
suffering and famine — our

slaves in the most laborious
works, our companions in our
amusement — they may
partake of our origin in one
common ancestor — we may
be all netted together. “
Darwin's Notebook on Transmutation of
Species (1837)
“There is not an animal (that lives) on Earth. Nor
a being that flies on its wings, but (forms a part)
of a community like you.”
Qur'an 6:38
“You are that which you wish to harm.”
Mahavira, last Jain Tirthankara
“The world grows smaller and smaller, more and
more interdependent…today more than ever
before life must be characterised by a sense of
Universal Responsibility, not only nation to nation
and human to human, but also human to other
forms of life.”
His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama
Eco-centrism in
indigenous
spirituality
“Humankind has not woven

the web of life. We are but one
thread within it. Whatever we
do to the web, we do to
ourselves. All things are bound
together. All things connect.”
Chief Seattle ( (c. 1786 – 1866), leader of the
Suquamish and Duwamish Native American tribes
Eco-centrism in
eastern
spirituality
“Humanity follows the Earth,
the Earth follows Heaven,
Heaven follows the Dao, and the
Dao follows what is natural.”
Dao De Jing
By Thomas Berg - Flickr page, CC BY-SA 2.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42619971

Eco-centrism in
‘minority’ western
traditions
Legend of St. Francis, Sermon to
the Birds, upper Basilica of San
Francesco d'Assisi
“Saint Francis invited all of
creation – animals, plants,
natural forces, even Brother
Sun and Sister Moon – to give
honour and praise to the Lord. ”
Pope John Paul II, 1982
“Informal” laws of ecology
1. Everything is connected to everything else
2. Everything must go somewhere
3. Nature knows best
4. There is no such thing as a free lunch
Barry Commoner (1970s): Biologist and environmental activist
“Mercury vapor is carried by the wind,
eventually brought to earth in rain or
snow. Entering a mountain lake, let us
say, the mercury condenses and sinks
to the bottom. Here it is acted on by
bacteria which convert it to methyl

mercury. This is soluble and taken up
by fish; since it is not metabolized, the
mercury accumulates in the organs
and flesh of the fish. The fish is caught
and eaten by a man and the mercury
becomes deposited in his organs,
where it might be harmful. And so on.”
Barry Commoner, The Closing Circle: Nature, Man, and
Technology
(New York: Al fred A. Knopf, 1971), 40.
The person is not above or outside of nature. The person is part
of
creation on-going. The person cares for and about nature, shows
reverence towards and respect for nonhuman nature, loves and
lives
with nonhuman nature… Deep ecology, unlike reform
environmentalism, is not just a pragmatic, short-term social
movement
with a goal like stopping nuclear power or cleaning up the
waterways.
Deep ecology first attempts to question and present alternatives
to
conventional ways of thinking in the modern West.”
Devall, B., 1980. The deep ecology movement. Nat. Resources

J., 20, p.299.
Eco-feminism
Environment and women
linked by shared history of
oppression.
“The immediate cause of
present-day woes and future
threats is the patriarchal
system, founded upon the
appropriation of procreation
and fertility, the mental and
cultural structures of which
have persisted across all
successive social and economic
domains..”
d'Eaubonne, F., 1999. What could an
ecofeminist society be?. Ethics and the
Environment, 4(2), pp.179-184.
Anthropocentric
▪ Planetary management: resources must be
managed to maximise human benefit
▪ No-problem: no strong need for
management/regulation as Earth’s resources
(and human potential to innovate) are vast.
▪ Stewardship: resources must be managed

such that humans benefit without causing
excessive damage.
Biocentric
▪ Features in many religions.
▪ Does not consider chemical and geological
elements (the ‘abiotic’) of the environment
to be as important as living (biotic) beings or
components.
Ecocentric
▪ Features in Eastern spirituality, indigenous
beliefs and minority Western spiritual
tradition.
▪ Deep ecology: rather than short-term fixes,
need to question dominant
anthropocentrism that led to environmental
problems.
▪ Eco-feminism: identifies patriarchal society
as a specific cause.
To recap…
Discuss
What kind of environmental
worldview would you describe
this as? Why?

US Republican politician Rick Santorum
said at a 2012 campaign event: “We
were put on this Earth as creatures of
God to have dominion over the Earth,
to use it wisely and steward it wisely,
but for our benefit not for the Earth’s
benefit.”
▪ View of human nature: people
inherently good/evil?
▪ View of ‘the good life’: people
inherently
responsible/hedonistic?
▪ Equality: all people equal to each
other?
▪ Responsibilities to others: people
inherently selfish/selfless?
▪ Relationship between individual
and the state: individual rights vs
state’s rights?
▪ Sources of ethical wisdom: right
and wrong can be found in an

objective authority/in each
individual’s personal beliefs.
Relationship between
humans and nature is one
component of worldview
2. US National Parks case study
And what a splendid contemplation too, when
one (who has traveled these realms, and can
duly appreciate them) imagines them as they
might in future be seen (by some great
protecting policy of government)preserved
in their pristine beauty and wildness, in a
magnificent park…”
George Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs,
and Condition of the North American Indians (1841)
“…a magnificent park, where the world
could see for ages to come, the native

Indian in his classic attire, galloping his
wild horse, with sinewy bow, and shield
and lance, amid the fleeting herds of elks
and buffaloes…
George Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs,
and Condition of the North American Indians (1841)
Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir on Glacier Point
With inexpressible delight
you wade out into the
grassy sun-lake, feeling
yourself contained in one of
Nature's most sacred
chambers, withdrawn from
the sterner influences of the
mountains, secure from all
intrusion, secure from
yourself, free in the
universal beauty. And
notwithstanding the scene
is so impressively spiritual,
and you seem dissolved in
it, yet everything about you
is beating with warm,
terrestrial, human love,
delightfully substantial and
familiar.
John Muir, The Mountains of California

(1894). Scottish-American naturalist,
author, founder of the Sierra Club.
Muir's view of native peoples around Yosemite was nothing
short of
disdainful. In his lengthy essay, The Mountains of California,
Muir
glowingly describes geology, flora and fauna. Of the sixteen
chapters in
the essay, none are devoted to the resident American Indians.
Several
encounters are described, though. In the most telling, Muir,
having
climbed a pass where "in every direction the landscape stretched
sublimely away in fresh wilderness - a manuscript written by
the hand
of Nature alone," encounters a group of Mono Indians traveling
the
same trail. He notes both men and women "persistently" begged
for
whiskey and tobacco and "were mostly ugly, and some of them
altogether hideous," having “no right place in the landscape”.
Kantor, I., 2007. Ethnic Cleansing and America's Creation of
National Parks. Pub. Land &
Resources L. Rev., 28, p.41.
Yellowstone superintendent Captain Moses … argued that the
presence of Indians in Yellowstone not only threatened the wild
flora
and fauna in the park, but Indians could never become

"civilized" so
long as they continued to frequent their "former wilderness
haunts…
[Yosemite Superintendent] A. E. Wood implied that removal [of
the
Yosemite Indians] would not be necessary since the Yosemite
were a
"vanishing" tribe that would soon die out or assimilate into
white
society.
Spence, M., 1996. Dispossesing the wilderness: Yosemite
Indians and the national park
ideal, 1864-1930. Pacific historical review, 65(1), pp.27-59.
Pushed out by policy
Trespassing and hunting
regulations at Yosemite adversely
affected Indians who hunted game
or gathered plants.
President Ulysses S. Grant pocket-
vetoed a Federal bill to protect
bison herds (1874).
General Philip Sheridan even
advocated slaughtering the herds,
to deprive the Plains Indians of
food (1875).

▪ As a result, tribal people who
have depended on and managed
lands for generations are being
displaced.
▪ E.g. Tribes in India’s tiger reserves.
The ‘wilderness’ model of
conservation continues to
be perpetuated around
the world
By Davidvraju - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
India’s Forest Rights Act
recognizes tribal rights to
remain on land and use its
resources, when it is turned into
a conservation zone.
But these ‘Habitat Rights’ must
essentially be claimed by the
tribespeople themselves under
the Act.
By Simon Williams / Ekta Parishad - Ekta Parishad, CC BY-SA
3.0,
The Baiga tribe

Baiga identify as guardians of the forest and soil:
“ ‘You must not tear the breasts of your Mother the Earth with
the plough like the Gond
and Hindu. You will cut down trees and burn them and sow your
seed in the ashes. But
you will never become rich, for if you did you would forsake
the earth, and then there
would be no one to guard it and keep its nails in place.’ Then
Bhagavan showed Naga
Baiga how to cut bewar and sow seed in the ashes of burnt
trees…”
Verrier Elwin, anthropologist, ethnologist and tribal activist,
describing Baiga creation myth (1939).
© Survival
The Baiga are a Scheduled Tribe, an
official designation for groups of
historically disadvantaged indigenous
people in India.
Displacement affects social cohesion,
livelihoods and wellbeing, impacting
resilience and widening inequalities.
‘We were stronger
in the forest’

Extent of Great Indian Peninsular Railway network in 1870.
The GIPR was one of the largest rail companies at that time.
Historical
context
Historical accounts
indicate conflict
between Baiga and
British authorities over
resource use (felling
trees to build railways
and ships).
British outlawed bewar
(shifting agriculture)
practiced by the Baiga.
British in 1890
recognised seven villages
(area known as Baiga
Chak) as having limited
rights over the forest.
There has been some progress
2016: Habitat Rights for seven predominantly Baiga villages .
Granted an area of ~23,000 acres from which the Baigas will
not be evicted for
any purpose.
Modern activists essentially using the much earlier British
ruling as a precedent.

But there are still ~50 villages that need to get Habitat Rights.
Discussion questions
What similarities can be drawn from the experiences of Plains
Indians during the formation of US National Parks and Baiga
tribespeople today?
How did wider economic, social and political factors contribute
to the environmental inequalities experienced in each case?
Coffee Break
15 mins
3. Environmental risk
People tend to perceive danger and
respond to risk in different ways,
encouraging the development of
different social structures.
This extends to perception of nature
and natural/environmental hazards and
problems.

Douglas, M., 2007. A history of grid and group cultural
theory. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto.
http://projects. chass. utoronto.
ca/semiotics/cyber/douglas1. pdf.
The cultural theory of risk
‘Group’: how strongly
people are bonded
together.
▪ When people group
together, laws are more
easily defined and policed.
‘Grid’: how different
people are in the group.
▪ When people can easily
interchange roles, they are
less dependent on one
another.
▪ When they possess distinct
roles, it may be more
advantageous to work
together.
▪ But, this may also create
different degrees of
entitlement.
Grid-group

Where does
nature fit in?
Nature is
capricious
Nature is
tolerant
Nature is
benign
Nature is
fragile
Flooding will
happen no
matter what
you do.
Don’t tell me
where I can
build my house!
If the river
were managed
properly…
Everything was

fine until…
The American first lady's remark on viewing the devastation
after
the 1970 Peruvian earthquake that the United States was going
to
help the victims until everything was "just rosy again"
exemplifies
the belief that the disaster was an "extreme event" and returning
to normalcy would solve all the problems. There was little
recognition that the destruction and misery in Peru in 1970 and
after were as much a product of that nation's historic
underdevelopment as they were of the earthquake.
Oliver-Smith, A., 1999. Peru’s five hundred-year earthquake:
vulnerability in historical context. The Angry Earth,
pp.74-88.
▪ Limited access to
healthcare
▪ Political instability
▪ Cash crops

▪ Fragile infrastructure
▪ Changing building
materials &
settlement patterns
CC BY-SA 2.5 es,
How was Peru’s vulnerability in 1970 linked to political
economy?
Social amplification of risk denotes the phenomenon by which
information processes, institutional structures, social-group
behavior, and individual responses shape the social experience
of
risk, thereby contributing to risk consequences.
Kasperson, R.E., Renn, O., Slovic, P., Brown, H.S., Emel, J.,
Goble, R., Kasperson, J.X. and Ratick, S., 1988. The
social amplification of risk: A conceptual framework. Risk
analysis, 8(2), pp.177-187.
Mase, A.S., Cho, H. and Prokopy, L.S., 2015. Enhancing the
Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF) by exploring
trust, the availability

heuristic, and agricultural advisors' belief in climate change.
Journal of Environmental Psychology, 41, pp.166-176.
▪ The relationship between
people and nature is a
common component in one’s
worldview.
▪ Environmental worldviews
are frequently categorised as
anthropocentric, biocentric
or ecocentric.
▪ Environmental risk can be
framed within the concept of
cultural theory, but can also
be framed within the context
of political economy.
▪ It may be necessary for
decision-makers to look
beyond the natural
environment to find ways to
mitigate environmental risk.
Summary

Then-Mayor Micheal Bloomberg said the following in response
to Hurricane Sandy:
'Any loss of life is tragic; sadly, nature is dangerous, and these
things occur. The best thing we can do for those who did die is
make sure this city recovers for those who come out of this and
build a better life for those left behind'"
http://www.nyti mes .com/2012/11/01/us/after-storms-
destruction-halting-return-in-northeast.html
?_r=1&pagewanted=all&
What would Oliver-Smith say to this? Use a quote from the
reading to support your claim.
Climate change
ethics
LECTURE 10

Learning
objectives
Previously, we looked at the international
agreements in place for the purpose of mitigating
climate change. Adaptation and mitigation also
involve more local undertakings, and ethical issues
and challenges.
By the end of the session, you should be able to
▪ Discuss how climate change creates material and
non-material impacts.
▪ Recognise the role of ‘place’ in climate action.
▪ Identify how climate action can create new or
redistributed vulnerabilities (maladaptation).
▪ Recognise barriers to adaptation.
Adaptation:
Prepare for
impacts to
reduce effect
Timescale: Ongoing, but

can involve short-term
actions
Spatial scale: Local issue,
local benefits
Thames Barrier by Andy Roberts from East London, England -
Flickr.com - image description page, CC
BY 2.0,
1. Climate change adaptation and ‘place’
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRp7QjDa_bA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRp7QjDa_bA
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Why is ‘place’ important?

Place attachment in two concepts:
(a) place dependence (i.e., a functional
attachment) and
(b) place identity (i.e., an emotional
attachment).
Vaske, J.J. and Kobrin, K.C., 2001. Place attachment
and environmentally responsible behavior. The
Journal of Environmental Education, 32(4), pp.16-21.
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Links to theories of
cultural and natural
heritage
Material culture: monuments, sites,
landscapes (tangible) - Charter of the
Council of Europe in 1972 proposes the
soil as heritage
Non‐material culture: nonphysical ideas
(intangible) - UNESCO Convention for
the Safeguarding of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage (2003)
Vecco, M., 2010. A definition of cultural heritage:
From the tangible to the intangible. Journal of
Cultural Heritage, 11(3), pp.321-324.
https://ich.unesco.org/en/dive&display=biome#tabs

https://ich.unesco.org/en/dive&display=biome
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Adger, W.N., Barnett, J., Brown, K., Marshall, N. and O’Brien,
K., 2013. Cultural dimensions of climate change impacts and
adaptat ion.
Nature Climate Change, 3(2), p.112.
Case study:
Sami
reindeer
herders
One core theme emerged from the interviews: facing
the limit of resilience. Swedish reindeer-herding
Sami perceive climate change as yet another stressor
in their daily struggle… The forecasts about climate
change from authorities and scientists have
contributed to stress and anxiety. Other societal
developments have lead to decreased flexibility that
obstructs adaptation. Some adaptive strategies are
discordant with the traditional life of reindeer
herding, and there is a fear among the Sami of being
the last generation practising traditional reindeer
herding.
Furberg, M., Evengård, B. and Nilsson, M., 2011. Facing the
limit of
resilience: perceptions of climate change among reindeer
herding
Sami in Sweden. Global health action, 4(1), p.8417.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmWKXVaRk78
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmWKXVaRk78
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“They just don’t need to give a **** so they don’t give a ****,”
says Nils
Johan Labba with a shrug. A traditional craftsman with an 18-
month waiting
list for his knives, he is also a member of the Sami parliament.
“We have a
reindeer community here, this is their moving territory. Or it
was – everything
changed with the city. Kiruna as a city doesn’t take much
consideration about
Sami people or Sami lifestyles.”
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Case study:
Indigenous
people of
the Amazon
In some countries like Colombia, Ecuador,
and Bolivia, domestic law reforms,
including concepts of “plurinationality”
and “pluriculturality”, have given
recognition to the rights of indigenous
peoples in their own territories…
Brugnach, M., Craps, M. and Dewulf, A.R.P.J., 2017. Including
indigenous peoples in climate change mitigation: addressing
issues of scale, knowledge and power. Climatic change, 140(1),
pp.19-32.
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Case study:
Farmers in
Burkina Faso
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Case study:
Farmers in
Burkina
Faso
▪ Livelihood diversification options include labour
migration, gardening, and working for development
projects.
▪ Traditional Fulbe preference for transhumance
coupled with specific historical developments (e.g.
the end of slavery) limits engagement.
▪ Furthermore, Livelihood diversification options
challenge cultural concepts like ndimaaku
(personal integrity; worthiness), semteede (shame)
and pulaaki (Fulbe-ness).
▪ Highlights need for consideration of culture in
informing climate adaptation.
Nielsen, J.Ø. and Reenberg, A., 2010. Cultural barriers to

climate
change adaptation: A case study from Northern Burkina Faso.
Global Environmental Change, 20(1), pp.142-152.
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Summary
hreaten culture, sense
of place and identity.
tensions with identity and place (renewables vs.
reindeer herding)
and adaptation (co-develop effective approaches to
minimising risks).
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2. Barriers to adaptation and maladaptation

Understanding
Detect problem
Gather/use info
Define problem
Planning
Develop options
Assess options
Select option
Managing
Implement option
Monitor
Evaluate
Moser, Susanne C., and Julia A. Ekstrom. "A framework to
diagnose barriers to climate change adaptation." Proceedings of
the National Academy
of Sciences107.51 (2010): 22026-22031.
Issues
▪ Existence of a signal
▪ Thresholds of concern
▪ Credibility of info
▪ Availability of tech & resources
▪ Legality & feasibility
▪ Threshold of intent
Barriers to adaptation
▪ Ability to agree on goals/options
▪ Control over process/options
▪ Thresholds of concern re. side-effects

Climate
change and
islands
Sea level rise is just one
way in which climate
change impacts islands.
Additionally,
environmental concerns
are just one set amongst
many for Small Island
Developing States (SIDS).
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How does this
point relate to

the experiences
of Ursula’s
community?
“
…social justice needs to be measured in terms
of the freedom an individual has to achieve
his or her goals and objectives, not simply in
terms of having some basic needs satisfied.
Siegel, P.B. and Jorgensen, S.L., 2013. Global Climate Change
Justice: Toward a
Risk‐Adjusted Social Floor. IDS Working Papers, 2013(426),
pp.1-28.
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Adaptation measures
that ultimately increase
the vulnerability of
other systems, sectors
or social groups.

E.g. relocation leading
to a loss of income,
social cohesion, etc.
Mal-
adaptation
Safe
development
paradox
Potential for
maladaptation when
attempting to reduce
exposure.
Burby, Raymond J. "Hurricane Katrina and the paradoxes of
government disaster policy: Bringing about wise governmental
decisions f or hazardous areas." The Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 604.1
(2006): 171-191. Image: NASA
Discussion
questions
10 minutes
What are the differences and similarities between
these two island cases?
Is there scope for mal-adaptation in either case? If so,
how?

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Patterns of climate change perceptions
Yale Climate Opinion Maps – U.S. 2016
By Peter Howe, Matto Mildenberger, Jennifer Marlon and
Anthony Leiserowitz
Members of the public with the highest degrees of science
literacy and technical reasoning capacity were not the most
concerned about climate change. Rather, they were the
ones among whom cultural polarization was greatest. This
result suggests that public divisions over climate change
stem not from the public’s incomprehension of science but
from a distinctive conflict of interest: between the personal
interest individuals have in forming beliefs in line with those
held by others with whom they share close ties and the
collective one they all share in making use of the best
available science to promote common welfare.
Kahan, D.M., Peters, E., Wittlin, M., Slovic, P., Ouellette, L.L.,
Braman, D. and Mandel, G., 2012. The polarizing impact of
science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change

risks. Nature Climate Change, 2(10), pp.732-735.
“
Summary
39
▪ Adaptation is planning for the impacts that are expected
to occur due to climate change.
▪ Adaptation as a whole is likely to be ongoing, though
adaptation actions can occur on short-timescales, with
steps taken quickly to reduce key vulnerabilities.
▪ However, a community’s sensitivity, and lack of
resilience or adaptive capacities is linked to generic
capacities like levels of education and healthcare, political
stability, wealth, etc. May not be easy to change.
▪ Maladaptation can also occur when adaptation actions
actually leave those they were intended to help worse off
than before.
▪ Climate change has social and cultural dimensions that
are not always factored into wider decision-making,
which could be particularly important in the context of
maladaptation.
Analyse Adger et al.’s (2011) argument that “the risk

of irreversible loss of places needs to be factored into
decision-making on climate change”. Support your
answer with reference to specific examples.
Things to consider:
• Is the irreversible loss of places a credible concern?
How would you illustrate your point?
• If so, how do we assess whether it “needs” to be
factored in? Is the decision-making process and/or
outcomes improved by its inclusion? How will you
illustrate this?
Climate change
policy
LECTURE 9
Learning
objectives
If we consider climate change as one of several
‘planetary boundaries’ we are at risk of over stepping,

we need to consider how the complexity and scale of the
issue impacts the kinds of solutions that can be applied,
in order to implement effective policies.
▪ Discuss how is climate change mitigation a
geographical issue.
▪ Explain how this shapes approaches to addressing
climate change (e.g. CBDR).
▪ Discuss the effectiveness of national and international
climate policy and the factors that influence its
effectiveness now and in the future.
1. Climate change mitigation: Geographical
perspectives
Go to
www.menti.com
Code: 22 03 30
Transboundary
environmental problems

We have a transboundary environmental
problem whenever the
environment in one country is directly affected
by actions taken in one or more other
countries.
Hoel, M., 2002. 32 Transboundary environmental problems.
Handbook of
environmental and resource economics, p.472.
“
Historical vs
Current
Emissions
http://www.carbonmap.org/#
Centre for Global Development
https://www.cgdev.org/page/mapping-impacts-climate-
change?utm_=
Wheeler, D., 2011. Quantifying vulnerability to climate change:
implications for adaptation assistance.
Physical impacts are largely focused in the Global South
change?utm_

change?utm_=
Impacts plus coping ability equals geographic inequities
change?utm_
IPCC (2001)
Hayward, T., 2012. Climate change and ethics. Nature Climate
Change, 2(12), p.843.
Tools of
international
regimes
Framework convention
▪ Set of principles, norms, goals and mechanisms for
cooperation, but no major obligations.
▪ E.g. Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone
Layer
Conference of the parties
▪ The governing body of an international convention.

▪ Advances implementation of convention through
decisions at meetings.
Protocols
▪ Separate, more detailed legal instruments that can be
attached to a framework convention to address
specific aspects of an issue and specify obligations.
▪ E.g. Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the
Ozone Layer
11
UNFCCC
▪ United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) is an international environmental
treaty.
▪ Framework Convention was drafted and signed in
1992.
▪ Treaty itself set no binding limits on greenhouse
gas emissions for individual countries and contains
no enforcement mechanisms.
▪ Treaty provides a framework for negotiating specific
international treaties (protocols) that may set
binding limits on greenhouse gases.
12

Common but
differentiated
responsibilities
13
…the global nature of climate change calls
for the widest possible cooperation by all
countries and their participation in an
effective and appropriate international
response, in accordance with their
common but differentiated
responsibilities and respective
capabilities and their social and economic
conditions…
“
UNFCCC (1992)
14
Annex I
Annex I & II
Non-Annex I
Annex I 43 Parties Industrialized countries & "economies in
transition" (EITs).
Annex II 24 Parties OECD Members (Organization for
Economic Cooperation &

Development).
Most Annex I are therefore also in Annex II.
Must provide support to EITs & developing countries.
Non-Annex I 153 Parties Low-income developing countries.
May volunteer to become
Annex I countries when sufficiently developed.
The Kyoto
Protocal
International treaty, which
extends the 1992 UNFCCC,
committing parties to
emissions reductions.
Adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on
11 December 1997 and
entered into force on 16
February 2005.
37 industrialised countries
pledged to reduce their
greenhouse-gas emissions
from 1990 levels by an
average of 4.2% over 2008-
2012.
‘Grandfathering’ emissions:
does it entrench existing
inequalities?
15

Global
responses
to kyoto
16
USA – signed but never ratified
▪ US signed the Protocol in 1998 during the Clinton
presidency.
▪ However, the Senate had already passed the 1997 non-
binding Byrd-Hagel Resolution, expressing disapproval of
any international agreement that did not require
developing countries to make emission reductions.
▪ So, Kyoto was never submitted to the Senate for
ratification.
Canada, Japan, Russia
▪ In 2011, these countries stated that they would not take
on further Kyoto targets.
Criticisms of
CBDR
17
The current framework of the Kyoto Protocol
is neither fair nor effective, as the total CO2
emissions from the Parties under the

obligation of the Kyoto Protocol account for
only 27%... Japan cannot make a short term
"deal", while not addressing seriously the
problem of the next decade.
“
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (2010)
Criticisms of
CBDR
18
The viewpoint of developing states seems to
satisfy the need for equity, but is not very
pragmatic as climate change can only be solved
through a concerted global effort. It is actually the
developing states that are most vulnerable to the
effects of climate change. The approach taken by
the USA does not do justice to the fact that they
are the largest polluters, but it does reflect some
pragmatic thinking…
Scholtz, W., 2009. Equity as the basis for a future international
climate change
agreement: between pragmatic panacea and idealistic
impediment. The
optimisation of the CBDR principle via realism. The
Comparative and International
Law Journal of Southern Africa, pp.166-182.
“

Positions of
emerging
political
groups
Blaxekjær, L.Ø. and Nielsen,
T.D., 2015. Mapping the
narrative positions of new
political groups under the
UNFCCC. Climate
Policy, 15(6), pp.751-766.
Shared
responsibility
Differentiated
responsibility
N
o
n
-A
n
n
ex I
co
u
n
trie
sA

n
n
ex
I
co
u
n
tr
ie
s
Cartagena
Dialogue (CD)
Durban Alliance
(DA)
Association of
Independent Latin
American and Caribbean
Countries (AILAC)
Climate
Vulnerable Forum
(CVF) Maldives + 19
others

Brazil, South
Africa, India and
China (BASIC)
Like-Minded
Developing
Countries (LMDC)
‘shared responsibility across the North–South
divide’ versus ‘differentiated responsibility
upholding the North–South divide’
The
Adaptation
Fund
Launched in 2007,
although it was
established in 2001 at
COP7 in Marrakech.
Aim is to finance climate adaptation projects
and programmes in developing countries that
are parties to the Kyoto Protocol.
Financed in part by some of the proceeds
from CDM project activities, and also
donations from Annex I countries.
Direct access mechanism: Accredited
national implementing entities (NIEs) and
regional implementing agencies (RIEs) in

developing countries can directly access
climate adaptation financing.
Technology
mechanism
(2010)
Technology Executive
Committee provides
policy recommendations
that support country
efforts to enhance climate
technology development
and transfer.
Climate Technology Centre and Network facilitates transfer of
technologies by:
• Providing technical assistance to developing countries
• Creating access to information on climate technologies
• Fostering collaboration among climate technology
stakeholders.
The Paris
Agreement:
Key
differences
Drafted in Paris, 2015.

Directs all parties to
prepare and maintain
nationally-determined
climate targets.
No single plan of action:
Countries have flexibility
to work out their
approach, but there is to
be no backing down once
they’re committed
Requires all countries to
report on national
inventories of emissions
and on mitigation
progress.
22
23
Summary
Historical emissions and
current/future vulnerabilities are
not distributed homogenously –
where does responsibility for
climate change fall?

Political, economic, informational,
cultural, and social linkages lead
to international
interdependence. Important
source of influence in
international relations.
UNFCCC: international
environmental treaty, near
universal membership.
Conference of the Parties meets
every year.
Kyoto Protocol committed parties
to emissions reductions on a basis
of common but differentiated
responsibilities, adopted in 1997.
Merit of CMDR has been called
into question – .differentiation vs
shared responsibility -> equity vs
pragmatism.
The Paris Agreement directs all
parties to prepare and maintain
nationally-determined climate
targets -> shared responsibility.

Break
15 mins
2. The effectiveness of climate change policy
-20%
-15%
-10%
-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Annex I % change in non-land use
CO2 emissions relative to 1990
Kyoto:
Success or
failure?

27
Collapse
of USSR
Global
financial
crisis
Did CBDR work
as expected?
28
But the reductions made under the treaty were
dwarfed by the rise in emissions not covered by the
accord, especially in Asia. Since 2000, CO2 emissions in
China have nearly tripled to almost 10 billion tonnes,
and those in India have doubled to around 2 billion
tonnes.
Schiermeier, Q., 2012. The Kyoto protocol: hot air. Nature
News, 491(7426), p.656.
“
Is IET working
as expected?
-
allows Annex I countries to "trade" their emissions

the EU ETS Auctioning Regulation.
exchange, is the leading energy exchange in Central
Europe.
Range of pitfalls both conceptual (e.g. ethics of
pricing) and practical (e.g. potential for inflated
baselines, fraudulent trading).
Is the CDM
working as
expected?
31
… a diplomatic cable published last month by the
WikiLeaks website reveals that most of the CDM
projects in India should not have been certified because
they did not reduce emissions beyond those that would
have been achieved without foreign investment …
"What has leaked just confirms our view that in its
present form the CDM is basically a farce," says Eva
Filzmoser, programme director of CDM Watch, a
Brussels-based watchdog organization. The revelations
imply that millions of tonnes of claimed reductions in
greenhouse-gas emissions are mere phantoms, she
says, and potentially cast doubt over the principle of
carbon trading.

Schiermeier, Q., 2011. Clean-energy credits tarnished. Nature,
477(7366), pp.517-
518.
“
Is the CDM
working as
expected?
32
Local vs. global Local vs.
national/regional
Community vs.
business
Within the
community
Biomas -
based
renewable
energy CDM
projects,
Gorakhpur,
India
Local benefits
from the projects
were not clearly
identifiable, in
contrast to global

mitigation
outcomes.
Local community
participation was
hindered due to
literacy, language
and technological
barriers.
Local
communities’
development
priorities were
not taken into
account by the
Designated
National
Authorities
(DNA). Local
communities did
not have
opportunity for
direct
engagement with
the DNA.
The focus on
carbon emissions
has not provided
opportunities to
communities for
engaging with the
industrial units on
other pollution
impacts that
matter to them.

Only those
villages and
individuals
already sharing a
close relationship
with the
industrial units
were consulted
and benefited.
Mathur, V.N., Afionis, S., Paavola, J., Dougill, A.J. and
Stringer, L.C., 2014. Experiences of host
communities with carbon market projects: Towards multi-level
climate justice. Climate Policy,
14(1), pp.42-62.
Is the CDM
working as
expected?
33
Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol states that one of the
purposes of CDM is to assist non-Annex I parties
achieve sustainable development. However, the
economic driver of CDM is not technology transfer but
the generation of CERs to assist Annex I parties to close
the gaps in Kyoto commitments and in the EU Emissions
Trading Scheme. A persistent criticism of CDM is that it
encourages Annex I parties to claim the ‘low-hanging
fruit’ in developing countries … without contributing to
a longterm strategy of transforming these countries into
low carbon economies …

Cox, G., 2010. The Clean Development Mechanism as a Vehicle
for Technology
Transfer and Sustainable Development-Myth of Reality. Law
Env't & Dev. J., 6, p.179.
“
The Paris
Agreement:
Intended
Nationally
Determined
Contributions
(INDCs)
Refers to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that
a national government (developed & developing)
intends to make under the Paris Agreement
While INDCs are not legally binding, they will
potentially become part of a legally binding
agreement.
The INDC will become the first Nationally
Determined Contribution when a country ratifies the
Paris Agreement, unless they decide to submit a new
NDC at the same time.
Comparison of global emission levels in 2025 and 2030
resulting from the

implementation of the INDCs and under other scenarios
The ‘ratchet
mechanism’
“
2°C is an objective. If we have an ongoing process
you can not say it is a failure if the mitigation
commitments do not reach 2°C.
Miguel Arias Canete, EU lead on climate policy
2 February 2015
The Climate
Change Act
(2008, UK)
38
Reduce emissions by at least 80% on 1990
levels.
Legally-binding 5-year ‘carbon budgets’, set
12 years before they take effect, to allow
government, businesses and industry time
to plan (shrinking over time).
Independent advisory body – Committee
on Climate Change.

5 year cycles of adaptation programmes
and risk assessments informed by the CCC.
Go to
www.menti.com
Code: 22 03 30
The Climate
Change Act
(2008, UK)
Challenges will come
as budgets shrink
(particularly if
economy grows).
40
Political
sustainability
of the
Climate
Change Act?
In early 2011, the Business Secretary Vince Cable intervened,
arguing that the proposals for the fourth budget would
impose too many costs on the economy ... After heavy
lobbying by environmentalists, the Prime Minister did
eventually step in to insist that the Climate Change

Committee's proposal be accepted, and the fourth budget
was finally agreed in May … In October 2011, the Chancellor
told the Conservative Party Conference that “a decade of
environmental laws and regulations are piling costs on the
energy bills of households and companies” and pledged to
prevent the UK from cutting emissions more quickly than
other European countries... Open conflict in government was
alarming investors (Godsen, 2012). Seven global electricity
technology firms wrote to the Energy Secretary in September
2012 expressing concerns that the UK was in danger of
undermining its reputation as a country with low political
risk for energy investments.
Lockwood, M., 2013. The political sustainability of climate
policy: The case of the UK Climate
Change Act. Global Environmental Change, 23(5), pp.1339-
1348.
“
Risks to
delivery of
policies to
meet the
UK’s fourth
and fifth
carbon
budgets Yellow indicates policies which are in place but which
the CCC assesses
at medium risk of not being delivered. Red indicates where the
government has announced an ambition but has no policy in
place to
meet it. Dashed red wedge shows a “policy gap” to the cost-

effective
path, which outperforms carbon budgets. Source: CCC 2018
https://www.carbonbrief.org/worrying-trend-uk-emission-cuts-
beyond-pow er-waste-says-ccc
https://www.carbonbrief.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/risks-
delivery-ccc.png
beyond-power-waste-says-ccc
Plan B Earth
and Others v.
The Secretary
of State for
Business,
Energy, and
Industrial
Strategy
In December 2017, Plan B Earth alleged
that Government violated the Climate
Change Act 2008 in failing to revise its
2050 carbon emissions reduction target
after Paris and in light of current science.
In July 2018, Mr Justice Supperstone
refused permission for a full hearing, and
said Plan B Earth’s arguments were based
on an “incorrect interpretation” of the
Paris Agreement: “In my view the
secretary of state was plainly entitled ... to
refuse to change the 2050 target at the
present time.”

“A new wave
of strategic
court cases
linking climate
and rights is
emerging.”
Nachmany, M. and Setzer,
J., 2018. Global trends in
climate change legislation
and litigation: 2018
snapshot.
Is the CCA
enduring
policy?
Institutional transformation
▪ Committee on Climate Change
▪ Department of Energy and Climate Change ->
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial
Strategy (2016)
Reconfiguration of group identities and affiliations
“Since the Act was passed, perceptions and identities
have become more not less entrenched and the Tory
right appears to have more power within the party.”

policy: The case of
the UK Climate Change Act. Global Environmental Change,
23(5), pp.1339-
1348.
Is the CCA
enduring
policy?
Investment effects
“… politically sustainable policy … brings about
substantial investments based on the expectations that
reform will be maintained …”
policy: The case of
23(5), pp.1339-
1348.
“Under the banner of austerity, DECC and DEFRA
suffered significant budget cuts, which also limited their
capacity to develop policy.”
Gillard, R., Gouldson, A., Paavola, J. and Van Alstine, J., 2017.
Can national policy
blockages accelerate the development of polycentric
governance? Evidence from
climate change policy in the United Kingdom. Global
Environmental Change, 45,
pp.174-182.
“Arguably, the use of previous modelling (UKCIP09) was

largely a cost-saving issue due to the substantially
diminished budget for the 2017 CCRA in comparison to
the 2012 CCRA.”
Howarth, C., Morse-Jones, S., Brooks, K. and Kythreotis, A.P.,
2018. Co-producing UK climate
change adaptation policy: An analysis of the 2012 and 2017 UK
Climate Change Risk
Assessments. Environmental Science & Policy, 89, pp.412-420.
Brexit and UK
energy &
climate policy
… the Norway or the Energy Community models would
be the least disruptive, enabling continuity in energy
market access, regulatory frameworks and investment;
however, both would come at the cost of accepting the
vast majority of legislation while relinquishing any say in
its creation. The UK would thus have less, rather than
more, sovereignty over energy policy.
The Switzerland, the Canada and the WTO models offer
the possibility of greater sovereignty in a number of
areas, such as buildings and infrastructure standards as
well as state aid. None the less, each would entail higher
risks, with greater uncertainty over market access,
investment and electricity prices.
Froggatt, A., Raines, T. and Tomlinson, S., 2016. UK
Unplugged? The Impacts of Brexit on
Energy and Climate Policy. London: Chatham House.
https://www. chathamhouse.
org/sites/files/chathamhouse/publications/research/2016- 05-

26-uk-unplugged-brexitenergy-
froggatt-raines-tomlinson. pdf.
“
Brexit and UK
energy &
climate policy
… the long-term viability of the Climate Change Act
was being threatened even before the EU
referendum, and that Brexit will do little to improve
this situation.
Farstad, F., Carter, N. and Burns, C., 2018. What does Brexit
Mean for the UK's Climate
Change Act?. The Political Quarterly, 89(2), pp.291-297.
“
Summary
Kyoto Protocol accomplished reductions in Annex I emissions,
but
this was dwarfed by growth in emissions elsewhere.
Furthermore,
mechanisms contains various flaws, loopholes, misrecognition
of
local contexts, etc.
The Paris Agreement directs all parties to prepare and maintain
nationally-determined climate targets -> from differentiated to

shared responsibility. No single plan of action: Countries have
flexibility to work out their approach.
Current INDCs won’t get us under 2°C, but climate negotiators
see
this as an ongoing process. UK is not changing 2050 target,
despite
the science, and this decision has held up in court.
Climate Change Act (2008): Sets legally-binding carbon
budgets, but
so far, these are met by ‘low-hanging fruit’. CCC has flagged
issues
where government has announced further ambitions but have no
policies in place to meet them.
Many scholars have flagged the political instability of the Act,
stemming from limited institutional transformation, limited
reconfiguration of group identities, and limited investment
effects,
further complicated by Brexit.
Discuss the effectiveness of the UK Climate Change Act
in advancing climate action and whether reform of the
Act is required to ensure that the UK meets its
international climate obligations.
Effectiveness: Is the UK on track with mitigating and
adapting to climate change? What is the CCC saying?
Need for reform:
What factors did Lockwood (2013) refer to when

discussing sustainability of the Act?
1. Institutional transformation
2. Reconfiguration of group identities and affiliations
3. Investment effects
How is the Act doing across these?
Any recent developments?
Climate change
policy
LECTURE 9
Learning
objectives
If we consider climate change as one of several
‘planetary boundaries’ we are at risk of over stepping,
we need to consider how the complexity and scale of the
issue impacts the kinds of solutions that can be applied,
in order to implement effective policies.

▪ Discuss how is climate change mitigation a
geographical issue.
▪ Explain how this shapes approaches to addressing
climate change (e.g. CBDR).
▪ Discuss the effectiveness of national and international
climate policy and the factors that influence its
effectiveness now and in the future.
1. Climate change mitigation: Geographical
perspectives
Go to
www.menti.com
Code: 22 03 30
Transboundary
environmental problems
We have a transboundary environmental
problem whenever the
environment in one country is directly affected
by actions taken in one or more other
countries.

Hoel, M., 2002. 32 Transboundary environmental problems.
Handbook of
environmental and resource economics, p.472.
“
Historical vs
Current
Emissions
http://www.carbonmap.org/#
change?utm_=
Physical impacts are largely focused in the Global South
change?utm_
change?utm_=
Impacts plus coping ability equals geographic inequities

change?utm_
IPCC (2001)
Hayward, T., 2012. Climate change and ethics. Nature Climate
Change, 2(12), p.843.
Tools of
international
regimes
Framework convention
▪ Set of principles, norms, goals and mechanisms for
cooperation, but no major obligations.
▪ E.g. Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone
Layer
Conference of the parties
▪ The governing body of an international convention.
▪ Advances implementation of convention through
decisions at meetings.
Protocols
▪ Separate, more detailed legal instruments that can be
attached to a framework convention to address

specific aspects of an issue and specify obligations.
▪ E.g. Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the
Ozone Layer
11
UNFCCC
▪ United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) is an international environmental
treaty.
▪ Framework Convention was drafted and signed in
1992.
▪ Treaty itself set no binding limits on greenhouse
gas emissions for individual countries and contains
no enforcement mechanisms.
▪ Treaty provides a framework for negotiating specific
international treaties (protocols) that may set
binding limits on greenhouse gases.
12
Common but
differentiated
responsibilities
13

…the global nature of climate change calls
for the widest possible cooperation by all
countries and their participation in an
effective and appropriate international
response, in accordance with their
common but differentiated
responsibilities and respective
capabilities and their social and economic
conditions…
“
UNFCCC (1992)
14
Annex I
Annex I & II
Non-Annex I
Annex I 43 Parties Industrialized countries & "economies in
transition" (EITs).
Annex II 24 Parties OECD Members (Organization for
Economic Cooperation &
Development).
Most Annex I are therefore also in Annex II.
Must provide support to EITs & developing countries.
Non-Annex I 153 Parties Low-income developing countries.
May volunteer to become
Annex I countries when sufficiently developed.

The Kyoto
Protocal
International treaty, which
extends the 1992 UNFCCC,
committing parties to
emissions reductions.
Adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on
11 December 1997 and
entered into force on 16
February 2005.
37 industrialised countries
pledged to reduce their
greenhouse-gas emissions
from 1990 levels by an
average of 4.2% over 2008-
2012.
‘Grandfathering’ emissions:
does it entrench existing
inequalities?
15
Global
responses
to kyoto
16

USA – signed but never ratified
▪ US signed the Protocol in 1998 during the Clinton
presidency.
▪ However, the Senate had already passed the 1997 non-
binding Byrd-Hagel Resolution, expressing disapproval of
any international agreement that did not require
developing countries to make emission reductions.
▪ So, Kyoto was never submitted to the Senate for
ratification.
Canada, Japan, Russia
▪ In 2011, these countries stated that they would not take
on further Kyoto targets.
Criticisms of
CBDR
17
The current framework of the Kyoto Protocol
is neither fair nor effective, as the total CO2
emissions from the Parties under the
obligation of the Kyoto Protocol account for
only 27%... Japan cannot make a short term
"deal", while not addressing seriously the
problem of the next decade.
“

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (2010)
Criticisms of
CBDR
18
The viewpoint of developing states seems to
satisfy the need for equity, but is not very
pragmatic as climate change can only be solved
through a concerted global effort. It is actually the
developing states that are most vulnerable to the
effects of climate change. The approach taken by
the USA does not do justice to the fact that they
are the largest polluters, but it does reflect some
pragmatic thinking…
Scholtz, W., 2009. Equity as the basis for a future international
climate change
agreement: between pragmatic panacea and idealistic
impediment. The
optimisation of the CBDR principle via realism. The
Comparative and International
Law Journal of Southern Africa, pp.166-182.
“
Positions of
emerging
political
groups
Blaxekjær, L.Ø. and Nielsen,

T.D., 2015. Mapping the
narrative positions of new
political groups under the
UNFCCC. Climate
Policy, 15(6), pp.751-766.
Shared
responsibility
Differentiated
responsibility
N
o
n
-A
n
n
ex I
co
u
n
trie
sA
n
n
ex
I

co
u
n
tr
ie
s
Cartagena
Dialogue (CD)
Durban Alliance
(DA)
Association of
Independent Latin
American and Caribbean
Countries (AILAC)
Climate
Vulnerable Forum
(CVF) Maldives + 19
others
Brazil, South
Africa, India and
China (BASIC)
Like-Minded

Developing
Countries (LMDC)
‘shared responsibility across the North–South
divide’ versus ‘differentiated responsibility
upholding the North–South divide’
The
Adaptation
Fund
Launched in 2007,
although it was
established in 2001 at
COP7 in Marrakech.
Aim is to finance climate adaptation projects
and programmes in developing countries that
are parties to the Kyoto Protocol.
Financed in part by some of the proceeds
from CDM project activities, and also
donations from Annex I countries.
Direct access mechanism: Accredited
national implementing entities (NIEs) and
regional implementing agencies (RIEs) in
developing countries can directly access
climate adaptation financing.
Technology
mechanism

(2010)
Technology Executive
Committee provides
policy recommendations
that support country
efforts to enhance climate
technology development
and transfer.
Climate Technology Centre and Network facilitates transfer of
technologies by:
• Providing technical assistance to developing countries
• Creating access to information on climate technologies
• Fostering collaboration among climate technology
stakeholders.
The Paris
Agreement:
Key
differences
Drafted in Paris, 2015.
Directs all parties to
prepare and maintain
nationally-determined
climate targets.
No single plan of action:

Countries have flexibility
to work out their
approach, but there is to
be no backing down once
they’re committed
Requires all countries to
report on national
inventories of emissions
and on mitigation
progress.
22
23
Summary
Historical emissions and
current/future vulnerabilities are
not distributed homogenously –
where does responsibility for
climate change fall?
Political, economic, informational,
cultural, and social linkages lead
to international
interdependence. Important
source of influence in

international relations.
UNFCCC: international
environmental treaty, near
universal membership.
Conference of the Parties meets
every year.
Kyoto Protocol committed parties
to emissions reductions on a basis
of common but differentiated
responsibilities, adopted in 1997.
Merit of CMDR has been called
into question – .differentiation vs
shared responsibility -> equity vs
pragmatism.
The Paris Agreement directs all
parties to prepare and maintain
nationally-determined climate
targets -> shared responsibility.
Break
15 mins
2. The effectiveness of climate change policy

-20%
-15%
-10%
-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Annex I % change in non-land use
CO2 emissions relative to 1990
Kyoto:
Success or
failure?
27
Collapse
of USSR
Global
financial

crisis
Did CBDR work
as expected?
28
But the reductions made under the treaty were
dwarfed by the rise in emissions not covered by the
accord, especially in Asia. Since 2000, CO2 emissions in
China have nearly tripled to almost 10 billion tonnes,
and those in India have doubled to around 2 billion
tonnes.
Schiermeier, Q., 2012. The Kyoto protocol: hot air. Nature
News, 491(7426), p.656.
“
Is IET working
as expected?
-
allows Annex I countries to "trade" their emissions
the EU ETS Auctioning Regulation.
gy
exchange, is the leading energy exchange in Central
Europe.

pricing) and practical (e.g. potential for inflated
baselines, fraudulent trading).
Is the CDM
working as
expected?
31
… a diplomatic cable published last month by the
WikiLeaks website reveals that most of the CDM
projects in India should not have been certified because
they did not reduce emissions beyond those that would
have been achieved without foreign investment …
"What has leaked just confirms our view that in its
present form the CDM is basically a farce," says Eva
Filzmoser, programme director of CDM Watch, a
Brussels-based watchdog organization. The revelations
imply that millions of tonnes of claimed reductions in
greenhouse-gas emissions are mere phantoms, she
says, and potentially cast doubt over the principle of
carbon trading.
Schiermeier, Q., 2011. Clean-energy credits tarnished. Nature,
477(7366), pp.517-
518.
“

Is the CDM
working as
expected?
32
Local vs. global Local vs.
national/regional
Community vs.
business
Within the
community
Biomas -
based
renewable
energy CDM
projects,
Gorakhpur,
India
Local benefits
from the projects
were not clearly
identifiable, in
contrast to global
mitigation
outcomes.
Local community
participation was
hindered due to
literacy, language
and technological

barriers.
Local
communities’
development
priorities were
not taken into
account by the
Designated
National
Authorities
(DNA). Local
communities did
not have
opportunity for
direct
engagement with
the DNA.
The focus on
carbon emissions
has not provided
opportunities to
communities for
engaging with the
industrial units on
other pollution
impacts that
matter to them.
Only those
villages and
individuals
already sharing a
close relationship
with the

industrial units
were consulted
and benefited.
Mathur, V.N., Afionis, S., Paavola, J., Dougill, A.J. and
Stringer, L.C., 2014. Experiences of host
communities with carbon market projects: Towards multi-level
climate justice. Climate Policy,
14(1), pp.42-62.
Is the CDM
working as
expected?
33
Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol states that one of the
purposes of CDM is to assist non-Annex I parties
achieve sustainable development. However, the
economic driver of CDM is not technology transfer but
the generation of CERs to assist Annex I parties to close
the gaps in Kyoto commitments and in the EU Emissions
Trading Scheme. A persistent criticism of CDM is that it
encourages Annex I parties to claim the ‘low-hanging
fruit’ in developing countries … without contributing to
a longterm strategy of transforming these countries into
low carbon economies …
Cox, G., 2010. The Clean Development Mechanism as a Vehicle
for Technology
Transfer and Sustainable Development-Myth of Reality. Law
Env't & Dev. J., 6, p.179.
“

The Paris
Agreement:
Intended
Nationally
Determined
Contributions
(INDCs)
Refers to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that
a national government (developed & developing)
intends to make under the Paris Agreement
While INDCs are not legally binding, they will
potentially become part of a legally binding
agreement.
The INDC will become the first Nationally
Determined Contribution when a country ratifies the
Paris Agreement, unless they decide to submit a new
NDC at the same time.
Comparison of global emission levels in 2025 and 2030
resulting from the
implementation of the INDCs and under other scenarios
The ‘ratchet

mechanism’
“
2°C is an objective. If we have an ongoing process
you can not say it is a failure if the mitigation
commitments do not reach 2°C.
Miguel Arias Canete, EU lead on climate policy
2 February 2015
The Climate
Change Act
(2008, UK)
38
Reduce emissions by at least 80% on 1990
levels.
Legally-binding 5-year ‘carbon budgets’, set
12 years before they take effect, to allow
government, businesses and industry time
to plan (shrinking over time).
Independent advisory body – Committee
on Climate Change.
5 year cycles of adaptation programmes
and risk assessments informed by the CCC.
Go to
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Code: 22 03 30
The Climate
Change Act
(2008, UK)
Challenges will come
as budgets shrink
(particularly if
economy grows).
40
Political
sustainability
of the
Climate
Change Act?
In early 2011, the Business Secretary Vince Cable intervened,
arguing that the proposals for the fourth budget would
impose too many costs on the economy ... After heavy
lobbying by environmentalists, the Prime Minister did
eventually step in to insist that the Climate Change
Committee's proposal be accepted, and the fourth budget
was finally agreed in May … In October 2011, the Chancellor
told the Conservative Party Conference that “a decade of
environmental laws and regulations are piling costs on the
energy bills of households and companies” and pledged to
prevent the UK from cutting emissions more quickly than
other European countries... Open conflict in government was

alarming investors (Godsen, 2012). Seven global electricity
technology firms wrote to the Energy Secretary in September
2012 expressing concerns that the UK was in danger of
undermining its reputation as a country with low political
risk for energy investments.
policy: The case of the UK Climate
Change Act. Global Environmental Change, 23(5), pp.1339-
1348.
“
Risks to
delivery of
policies to
meet the
UK’s fourth
and fifth
carbon
budgets Yellow indicates policies which are in place but which
the CCC assesses
at medium risk of not being delivered. Red indicates where the
government has announced an ambition but has no policy in
place to
meet it. Dashed red wedge shows a “policy gap” to the cost-
effective
path, which outperforms carbon budgets. Source: CCC 2018
beyond-pow er-waste-says-ccc
https://www.carbonbrief.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/risks-

delivery-ccc.png
beyond-power-waste-says-ccc
Plan B Earth
and Others v.
The Secretary
of State for
Business,
Energy, and
Industrial
Strategy
In December 2017, Plan B Earth alleged
that Government violated the Climate
Change Act 2008 in failing to revise its
2050 carbon emissions reduction target
after Paris and in light of current science.
In July 2018, Mr Justice Supperstone
refused permission for a full hearing, and
said Plan B Earth’s arguments were based
on an “incorrect interpretation” of the
Paris Agreement: “In my view the
secretary of state was plainly entitled ... to
refuse to change the 2050 target at the
present time.”
“A new wave
of strategic
court cases
linking climate
and rights is

emerging.”
Nachmany, M. and Setzer,
J., 2018. Global trends in
climate change legislation
and litigation: 2018
snapshot.
Is the CCA
enduring
policy?
Institutional transformation
▪ Committee on Climate Change
▪ Department of Energy and Climate Change ->
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial
Strategy (2016)
Reconfiguration of group identities and affiliations
“Since the Act was passed, perceptions and identities
have become more not less entrenched and the Tory
right appears to have more power within the party.”
policy: The case of
23(5), pp.1339-
1348.

Is the CCA
enduring
policy?
Investment effects
“… politically sustainable policy … brings about
substantial investments based on the expectations that
reform will be maintained …”
policy: The case of
23(5), pp.1339-
1348.
“Under the banner of austerity, DECC and DEFRA
suffered significant budget cuts, which also limited their
capacity to develop policy.”
Gillard, R., Gouldson, A., Paavola, J. and Van Alstine, J., 2017.
Can national policy
blockages accelerate the development of polycentric
governance? Evidence from
climate change policy in the United Kingdom. Global
Environmental Change, 45,
pp.174-182.
“Arguably, the use of previous modelling (UKCIP09) was
largely a cost-saving issue due to the substantially
diminished budget for the 2017 CCRA in comparison to
the 2012 CCRA.”
Howarth, C., Morse-Jones, S., Brooks, K. and Kythreotis, A.P.,
2018. Co-producing UK climate
change adaptation policy: An analysis of the 2012 and 2017 UK

Climate Change Risk
Assessments. Environmental Science & Policy, 89, pp.412-420.
Brexit and UK
energy &
climate policy
… the Norway or the Energy Community models would
be the least disruptive, enabling continuity in energy
market access, regulatory frameworks and investment;
however, both would come at the cost of accepting the
vast majority of legislation while relinquishing any say in
its creation. The UK would thus have less, rather than
more, sovereignty over energy policy.
The Switzerland, the Canada and the WTO models offer
the possibility of greater sovereignty in a number of
areas, such as buildings and infrastructure standards as
well as state aid. None the less, each would entail higher
risks, with greater uncertainty over market access,
investment and electricity prices.
Froggatt, A., Raines, T. and Tomlinson, S., 2016. UK
Unplugged? The Impacts of Brexit on
Energy and Climate Policy. London: Chatham House.
https://www. chathamhouse.
org/sites/files/chathamhouse/publications/research/2016- 05-
26-uk-unplugged-brexitenergy-
froggatt-raines-tomlinson. pdf.
“

Brexit and UK
energy &
climate policy
… the long-term viability of the Climate Change Act
was being threatened even before the EU
referendum, and that Brexit will do little to improve
this situation.
Farstad, F., Carter, N. and Burns, C., 2018. What does Brexit
Mean for the UK's Climate
Change Act?. The Political Quarterly, 89(2), pp.291-297.
“
Summary
Kyoto Protocol accomplished reductions in Annex I emissions,
but
this was dwarfed by growth in emissions elsewhere.
Furthermore,
mechanisms contains various flaws, loopholes, misrecognition
of
local contexts, etc.
The Paris Agreement directs all parties to prepare and maintain
nationally-determined climate targets -> from differentiated to
shared responsibility. No single plan of action: Countries have
flexibility to work out their approach.
Current INDCs won’t get us under 2°C, but climate negotiators
see
this as an ongoing process. UK is not changing 2050 target,
despite

the science, and this decision has held up in court.
Climate Change Act (2008): Sets legally-binding carbon
budgets, but
so far, these are met by ‘low-hanging fruit’. CCC has flagged
issues
where government has announced further ambitions but have no
policies in place to meet them.
Many scholars have flagged the political instability of the Act,
stemming from limited institutional transformation, limited
reconfiguration of group identities, and limited investment
effects,
further complicated by Brexit.
Discuss the effectiveness of the UK Climate Change Act
in advancing climate action and whether reform of the
Act is required to ensure that the UK meets its
international climate obligations.
Effectiveness: Is the UK on track with mitigating and
adapting to climate change? What is the CCC saying?
Need for reform:
What factors did Lockwood (2013) refer to when
discussing sustainability of the Act?
1. Institutional transformation
2. Reconfiguration of group identities and affiliations
3. Investment effects
How is the Act doing across these?
Any recent developments?

Environmental
responsibility &
business
LECTURE 8
Learning
outcomes
If we consider economic actors and businesses to be
central to the success of environmental policy, we
need to consider how they engage with
environmental aims, including beyond legislative
measures, in order to understand priorities and
design effective policy.
By the end of the session, you should be able to:
sustainability (CS) that businesses may use engage
with environmental aims beyond legislative tools.
distinguishing between ‘real’ and suspect.

Go to
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Code: 15 27 23
1. Theories of corporate sustainability
Criteria for
sustainability
Dyllick, T. and Hockerts, K., 2002.
Beyond the business case for
corporate sustainability. Business
strategy and the environment, 11(2),
pp.130-141.
Eco-efficiency
Efficient use of natural
capital – do more with less
Business
SocietyNature
Socio-efficiency
Maximising + (e.g. donations)
and minimising – (e.g.
accidents) social impacts

Eco-effectiveness
Processes that are not
destructive, otherwise
‘efficient’ use may still
lead to degradation
Sufficiency
Moderation guiding
collective behaviour
Socio-effectiveness
Judging business against
maximum + social impact
that could be achieved
Ecological equity
Ensuring no group (including
future generations) bear
disproportionate
environmental burdens
Analysis of 37
definitions of
‘corporate
social
responsibility’
Dimension ratio reflects relative use.
Dahlsrud, A., 2008. How corporate
social responsibility is defined: an
analysis of 37 definitions. Corporate
social responsibility and

environmental management, 15(1),
pp.1-13.
Stakeholder dimension 88%
Social dimension 88%
Economic dimension 86%
Voluntariness dimension 80%
Environment dimension 59%
Corporate
social
responsibility
can be limited in focus
Business
SocietyNature?
Socio-efficiency
Socio-effectiveness

Corporate
sustainability
is a broader term and
can potentially engage
with all these criteria
Eco-efficiency
Efficient use of natural
capital – do more with less
Business
SocietyNature
Socio-efficiency
Eco-effectiveness
Processes that are not
destructive, otherwise
‘efficient’ use may still
lead to degradation
Sufficiency
Moderation guiding
collective behaviour
Socio-effectiveness
Ecological equity
Ensuring no group (including

future generations) bear
disproportionate
environmental burdens
4P matrix of
‘corporate
sustainability’
People, profit, planet,
principles
Van Marrewijk, M. and Werre, M.,
2003. Multiple levels of corporate
sustainability. Journal of Business
ethics, 44(2-3), pp.107-119.
Pre-CS (Red): No ambition for CS, except
when forced from the outside (e.g.
through legislation). Constant
reinforcement will be required.
Profit-driven CS (Orange): CS is promoted if
profitable (includes improved reputation)
Compliance-driven CS (Blue): CS perceived as an
obligation, or correct behaviour.
Caring CS (Green): CS initiatives
go beyond compliance and profit,
balancing economic, social and
ecological concerns, which are all
important in themselves.

Synergistic CS (Yellow): Win-together
approach seeking to create value in the
economic, social and ecological realms of
corporate performance. Sustainability is
recognised as inevitable direction of progress.
Holistic CS (Turquoise): CS is fully integrated in every
aspect of the organization, aimed at contributing to
the quality and continuation of life of every being and
entity, now and in the future, since all beings and
phenomena are mutually interdependent.
Why do firms
move beyond
compliance?
Prakash, A., 2001. Why do firms
adopt ‘beyond‐compliance’
environmental policies?. Business
pp.286-299.
Efficiency
4 policy types:
Type 1. Beyond compliance, profitability
can be assessed, and meets or exceeds

profit criteria.
cannot be assessed.
Type 3. Required by law, profitability
profit criteria.
cannot be assessed.
Legal
Efficiency
Legal
???
Motivations
Type 1
example
Eco-efficiency in action, but how is the
company doing on other sustainability criteria?
*http://business.edf.org/projects/featured/past-projects/better-
packaging-with-mcdonalds/
Better packaging practices introduced by
McDonald’s in 1991 saved the company an
estimated $6 million per year*.

Sustainabili
ty criteria
They have 29,000 restaurants with nearly 3,000 new
ones added each year. A valid report on sustainability
and social responsibility must ask the question: What if
everybody did it? … The report carefully avoids the
corporation's real environmental impacts. It talked about
water use at the outlets, but failed to note that every
quarter-pounder requires 600 gallons of water …
"Sustaining" McDonald's requires a simple unsustainable
formula: cheap food plus cheap non-unionized labor
plus deceptive advertising = high profits. An honest
report would tell stakeholders how much it truly costs
society to support a corporation like McDonald's. It
would detail the externalities borne by other people,
places, and generations.
Hawken, P., n.d. McDonald’s and Corporate Social
Responsibility [WWW Document].
URL https://www.iatp.org/news/mcdonalds-and-corporate-
social-responsibility-by-
paul-hawken (accessed 8.3.18).
“
https://www.iatp.org/news/mcdonalds-and-corporate-social-
responsibility-by-paul-hawken
4P matrix of

‘corporate
sustainability’
principles
ethics, 44(2-3), pp.107-119.
6. Holistic CS (Turquoise): CS is
fully
in every aspect of the
organization, aimed at
contributing to the quality and
continuation of life of every
being and entity, now and in the
future. The motivation for CS is
that sustainability is the only
alternative since all beings and
phenomena are mutually
interdependent. Each person or
organization therefore, has a
universal responsibility towards
all other beings

,
Why do firms
move beyond
compliance?
pp.286-299.
Efficiency
4 policy types:
profit criteria.
cannot be assessed.
profit criteria.
cannot be assessed.
Legal
Efficiency

Legal
???
Motivations
Type 2
example
Environmental management certification
(ISO 14001)
Signalling theory predicts improved
economic performance as consumers select
firms demonstrating good environmental
behaviour.
Post-hoc analysis confirms this (e.g. Ferron
et al., 2012), but this could not have been
known with certainty when the
certification was first being introduced.
Ferron, R.T., Funchal, B., Nossa, V. and Teixeira, A.J., 2012.
Is ISO 14001 certification effective?: an experimental
analysis of firm profitability. BAR-Brazilian Administration
Review, 9(SPE), pp.78-94.
Policies
as ‘conscious
artefacts’
traceable to

individuals
preferences?
pp.286-299.
Power-based processes
Leadership-based
processes
▪ Managers seek to
maximize status.
▪ Policy adoption might lead
to increases in budgets
and headcounts, creating
promotion opportunities.
▪ Managers seek a
conscious building of
consensus.
▪ To be persuasive, the
credibility and expertise of
policy-supporters is
important.
Regulation
considerations
Pre-empt regulation:
deter consumer groups

from demanding
legislation.
Influence regulation:
signal to government what
controls should be.
Deflect enforcement: If
regulator observes
voluntary action, they may
divert their resources to
monitoring & enforcement
elsewhere.
Lyon, Thomas P., and John W. Maxwell. Corporate
environmentalism and public policy.
Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Larger businesses
▪ More to lose in terms
of reputation?
▪ More visible, under
more public pressure?
Businesses with a
poor environmental
track-record
▪ Poor track record =
more kudos for
participation?

20
Reputation
considerations
Videras, Julio, and Anna Alberini. "The
appeal of voluntary environmental
programs: which firms participate and
why?." Contemporary Economic Policy
18.4 (2000): 449-460.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLzCkiF9p24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLzCkiF9p24
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www.menti.com
Code: 15 27 23
4P matrix of
‘corporate
sustainability’
principles
ethics, 44(2-3), pp.107-119.

Caring CS (Green): CS initiatives
go beyond compliance and profit,
balancing economic, social and
ecological concerns, which are all
important in themselves.
Synergistic CS (Yellow): Win-together
approach seeking to create value in the
economic, social and ecological realms of
corporate performance. Sustainability is
recognised as inevitable direction of progress.
Without holistic approach, scope for
conflicting goals remains
Many brands
(including Unilever-

owned ones like
Dove) use single-use
sachets to make
personal hygiene
products available to
poorer inhabitants in
emerging economies
Singh, R., Ang, R.P. and Sy-
Changco, J.A., 2009. Buying
less, more often: an
evaluation of sachet
marketing strategy in an
emerging market. The
Marketing Review, 9(1),
pp.3-17.
In the Indian village of Puttaparthi, in the state of
Andhra Pradesh, vet Reddy is preparing for an
operation. The patient, a cow…
Reddy rummages around in the stomach until he
encounters a tough brown lump. It is made up of
different types of plastic that have accumulated in the
animal’s stomach ... Too big to remove in one go, Reddy
has to break off bits of plastic one by one … At the end
of the operation Reddy has filled two big soup pans
with plastic goo. The cow has lost 53 kilos (116
pounds).
Dupont-Nivet, D., 2017. Inside Unilever’s sustainability myth
[WWW Document].
New Internationalist. URL https://newint.org/features/web-
exclusive/2017/04/13/inside-unilever-sustainability-myth

(accessed 8.3.18).
“
https://newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2017/04/13/inside-
unilever-sustainability-myth
Holistic
approach
would
involve
resolving
rather than
balancing the
three Ps
People
ProfitPlanet
Planet
People
Profit
29
... the corporation is in line
with the scientific consensus
and the international political
process on curbing
emissions… There is little to

suggest, however, that
corporations engage in the
radical rethinking of systemic
problems that the situation's
gravity would seem to call for.
Frequency of keywords in corporate non-financial reports
(Ihlen, 2009)
“
Ihlen, Ø., 2009. Business and climate change: the climate
response of the world's 30 largest corporations. Environmental
Communication, 3(2), pp.244-262.
Break
15 mins
2. Voluntary standards or ‘Green clubs’
‘Green clubs’
Many organisations adhere to voluntary standards or
certifications, either business-led, government-led or
3rd party-led.
These standards and certifications differ from
programmes and targets specific to the firm, in that
many firms are following the same standard,
theoretically giving coherency to terms used.

A common theme is information. Membership sends
a signal to consumers, allowing the firm to tap into
green markets.
policy
instruments
legislative
measures
market-
based
regulatory
non-
legislative
business-led
government
voluntary
3rd party
certification
Types of policy instrument
Suasive
instruments
Sermon

Non-
legislative
tools
Require relatively
low levels of
control.
Offer more cost-
effective pollution
control vs. C&C
(potentially).
35
No need to pass
legislation, so can move
more quickly than
imposed regulations.
Only option when there
is no authority in place
that could adopt &
enforce a “command and
control” regulation or a
tax. E.g. OECD’s
Guidelines for
Multinational Enterprises.
36
Stupak, I., Titus, B., Clarke, N., Smith, T., Lazdins, A.,
Varnagiryte-Kabasinskiene, I., Armolaitis, K., Peric, M. and

Guidi, C., 2013. Approaches
to soil sustainability in guidelines for forest biomass harvesting
and production in forests and plantations. In Proceedings of the
Workshop
W (Vol. 6, pp. 2-6).
Go to
www.menti.com
Code: 49 56 85
1. The hidden trade-off: suggesting a product is “green”
based on a narrow set of attributes without attention to
other important environmental issues.
2. No proof: claim that cannot be substantiated by
supporting information or reliable third-party certification
3. Vagueness: claim that is so poorly defined or broad that
its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the
consumer (e.g., “all-natural”).
4. Irrelevance: claim that may be truthful but is unimportant
or unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally
preferable products (e.g., “CFC-free”).
5. Lesser of two evils: claims that may be true within the
product category, but distract the consumer from the
greater impacts of the category as a whole.
6. Fibbing: committed by making environmental claims that

are simply false.
7. False labels: certification-like images with green jargon
such as “eco-preferred”.
7 sins of
greenwashing
Dahl, R., 2010. Green Washing:
Do you know what you’re
buying?. Environmental health
perspectives, 118(6), p.A246.
Adapted from: The Seven Sins of
Greenwashing: Environmental
Claims in Consumer Markets
Mandarins
Stringent club
standards with
enforcement rules
Country Clubs
Standards without
enforcement rules
Bootcamps
Lenient club
standards with
enforcement rules

Greenwashes
Lenient standards
without credible
enforcement rules
Types of
‘green club’
40Prakash, Aseem, and Matthew Potoski. The voluntary
environmentalists: Green clubs, ISO 14001, and voluntary
environmental regulations.
Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Case study:
Sustainable
Slopes
Business-led self
assessment
Little evidence of
improvement relative to
non-members, after 5 yrs.
Weak institutional
mechanisms: members opt
for easier, short-term,
visible actions (e.g.
recycling) over major
change (e.g. habitat
management).

Rivera, J., De Leon, P. and Koerber, C., 2006. Is greener whiter
yet? The sustainable
slopes program after five years. Policy Studies Journal, 34(2),
pp.195-221
Case study
3rd party certification?
Should lend external legitimacy about participants’
environmental commitments.
https://fern.org/sites/default/files/news-pdf/FERN_PindoDeli-
final_0.pdf
Criteria
“At least 10% of virgin
wood fibres from forests
shall come from forests
that are certified as being
managed so as to
implement the principles
and measures aimed at
ensuring sustainable
forest management.”
Enforcement
In the case of the
Ecolabel, certification may
involve a visit to the
manufacturing facility, but
not necessarily.
Decision can be based

solely on desk-based
audit of dossier provided
by the company.
Case study:
Danish
agreements on
energy
efficiency in
industry (1996)
44
▪ Firms can enter a 3-year voluntary agreement with
Danish Energy Agency, qualifying for a rebate on
CO2 tax payment.
▪ Agreement is legally binding and non-compliance
leads to tax rebate being annulled.
▪ Energy audit by external consultants was basis for
action programme of improvements. Annual
reports to DEA.
▪ Significant administrative costs on firms and public
authorities, especially related to administration of
tax rebates and checking energy audits.
▪ Scheme was revised in 2000: No more energy
audits, only self-reporting.
http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentp
df/?doclanguage=en&cote=env/epoc/wpnep%282002%2913/fina
l

How are
different
stakeholders,
including non-
human
stakeholders,
represented in
certification?
Go to
www.menti.com
Code: 49 56 85
Balancing or
resolving?
Leading participants in the RSPO share a common
belief in ‘market and industrial’ virtues (Boltanski and
Thévenot 2006) that facilitate a ‘business
environment’ compromise. This is where growing
market demand and profit are a ‘natural given’, where
the intensification of large-scale oil palm monoculture
goes hand in hand with the protection of forests, and
where industry’s support is seen as a vector for
development and poverty reduction…
Ponte, S. and Cheyns, E. 2013. Voluntary standards, expert

knowledge and the governance of sustainability networks.
Global Networks, 13: 459–477. doi:10.1111/glob.12011
Are Ponte and Cheyns (2013) describing a balancing
or a resolving of 3P issues?
“
‘Global’
versus ‘local’
knowledge
…of the 17 environmental NGO members of the RSPO
in 2012, only three are national or local NGOs
located in the South. Practically everyone who
occupies a seat on the Executive Board or in a
working group, and who chairs or speaks at the
plenary roundtable sessions is a representative of an
international or Northern NGO, a bank, an
international conglomerate or a large Asian or
European industrial or trading group.
knowledge
and the governance of sustainability networks. Global
Networks, 13:
459–477. doi:10.1111/glob.12011
“
The role of
smallholders

Many RSPO certificates delivered by auditors to
grower companies have been formally contested by
smallholders and local communities, who argued that
land conflicts in their area were still unresolved…
Although smallholders supply 30 per cent of the
global production of palm oil, they hold no key
positions*, are invariably absent from decisive
moments in the RSPO process, and hardly ever get
invitations to speak at the plenary sessions of the
annual roundtables.
knowledge
and the governance of sustainability networks. Global
Networks, 13:
459–477. doi:10.1111/glob.12011
“
Certification costs were too high for
smallholders
Resources and capacity to actually meet
the certification standard were lacking
amongst smallholders
Opportunities to raise smallholder issues
were lacking*
Making up
for lost time?
RSPO Smallholder Strategy (2017) has recognised that

the focus on larger producers meant that:
*There is now a seat on the Board to represent
smallholders, but still via a European company.
Summary
53
▪ Voluntary measures have potential to change business
behaviour at low economic and administrative cost to
government.
▪ Many motivations for participation; desire to avoid or
pre-empt regulation, financial sense, placate
shareholders.
▪ While environmental issues are increasingly coming to
attention of business (CS), some suggestion that
business is not yet engaging in radical rethinking.
▪ Challenges include lack of obligations for industry,
limited participation, and lack of independent controls
or poor controls.
▪ Schemes with strong regulations and enforcement may
have a better chance instigating real change.
Imagine you are attempting to create a new certification
scheme for sustainable avocados. Each group will be

approaching this from the perspective of a different
stakeholder: growers, traders, retailers, investors,
environmental NGOs and social NGOs.
▪ Complete the sentence: “When consumers see our
symbol, they will know that this avocado…”
▪ How does your certification scheme work? What would
be assessed, by whom, to what standards?
▪ What kinds of relationships would you seek to cultivate
and prioritise to roll out your vision?
Background on sustainability issues around avocadoes:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/12/hispte
rs-
handle-unpalatable-truth-avocado-toast
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/12/hispte
rs-handle-unpalatable-truth-avocado-toast
King and Toffel (2009) suggest “a need for caution in
predicting the effect of self-regulatory institutions. These
institutions derive their meaning and power from the
distributed interpretations and choices of numerous
actors.”
Reflecting on the avocado exercise, to what extent did
differences in power, choice, interpretation and meaning
lead to differences in the schemes developed?

Environmental
issues as market
problems
LECTURE 7
Environmental issues as market problems
How can market-based reduce environmental harm by correcting
market signals?
What are the challenges and benefits of such an approach?
Key concepts
▪ Environmental externalities
▪ Price-based & rights-based
instruments
▪ Extended producer responsibility
▪ Environmental valuation and
commodification
▪ Trading schemes

If we consider environmental issues to
arise out of a lack of valuation of
environmental ‘goods’, we need to
consider how these externalities could
be corrected, in order to represent the
environment within econocentric
decision-making.
1. Market-based approaches: theory and practice
4
Market-based economy
Quantity
£
Actual equilibrium
Efficiency (when
functioning):
little wasted
product

Innovation:
required to
create demand
Choice:
consumers act
according to
preference
5Quantity
£
Actual equilibrium
Ideal
equilibrium
Negative externalities: e.g. pollution
Incentive or market-based
regulation
▪ Uses economic policy instruments.
▪ Use benefits of market and correct omissions
(externalities).
▪ Price-based: offer incentives to

encourage/discourage certain activity.
▪ Rights-based: set cap & let actors figure it
out.
6
Pigouvian
Tax
that is generating
negative externalities.
social cost of
those externalities.
sustainable
innovation?
There are many
important aspects of
welfare that lie outside
an economist’s purview,
religious experience,
domestic harmony-or
disharmony -patriotic
feeling, appreciation of
music and art and fine
scenery, the pleasures
of physical fitness,
athletic achievement.

Pigou (1954)
7
Pigou, A.C., 1954. Some aspects of the welfare state. Diogenes,
2(7), pp.1-11.
“
What is Pigou saying here?
Extended
producer
responsibility
[EPR] is an
environmental
protection strategy to
reach an environmental
objective of a decreased
total environmental
impact of a product, by
making the
manufacturer of the
product responsible for
the entire life-cycle of
the product and
especially for the take-
back, recycling and final
disposal.
Thomas Lindhqvist in a
report to the Swedish
Ministry of the
Environment (1990)

managing
problematic products
from local
government to
producers.
oducers
to reduce toxicity and
waste.
can be reflected in
price of
goods/services.
Who pays?
Implications…
Deposit-
refund
systems
Most commonly
used with
beverage
containers.
Incentives
returning item for
recycling.

Reduces illegal
dumping and
evading the costs
is difficult.
9
Reverse vending machine in an
Aldi supermarket in Germany.
Design &
production
Packaging &
distribution
Use &
maintenance
Disposal
Extraction of
raw
materials
10
Extended producer responsibility (life-cycle)
Natural
resources
Incineration &

landfill
Design &
production
Packaging &
distribution
Use &
maintenance
Disposal
Extraction of
raw
materials
11
Natural
resources
Incineration &
landfill
Recovery
Recycling
materials &
components
Reuse

Reduce
Reduce
Extended producer responsibility (life-cycle)
Broadening of
the PPP
Clean-up costs
Strict
Broad
Pollution
prevention &
control
Product impacts
over lifetime
Pollution
prevention &
control
Clean-up costs
Pollution
prevention &
control

Extended
responsibility
Charge or
levy
E.g. Plastic bag charge
Transparency and
clarity can be issues.
Many stores donate
to charity, but
legislation does not
state that stores must
pass on money raised.
13
Changes in
observed
bag use
Poortinga, W., Sautkina, E., Thomas, G.O. and Wolstenholme,
E., 2016.
The English plastic bag charge: Changes in attitudes and
behaviour.
Cardiff : Welsh School of Architecture/School of Psychology,
Cardiff
University.
Number and type of

bags used by shoppers
when exiting four
different supermarkets
in Cardiff and Bristol in
July 2015 and July
2016, respectively.
‘Latte levy’
2.5 billion coffee
cups used in UK
each year.
Even ‘recyclable’
ones technically
aren’t as they
require specialist
recycling plants of
which there are
only two in the UK.
25p levy proposed.
15
16Quantity
£
Actual equilibrium
Ideal
equilibrium

Positive externalities: e.g. discount for
using a reusable cup
Subsidy, tax
cuts, etc.
▪ Lowers price, which encourages demand for
some preferred, environmentally-friendly
product or service.
▪ Corrects market by paying for positive
externalities (social benefit)
▪ May help change preferences in the long run.
▪ But, consumers & businesses may come to rely
on subsidy.
17
Only 2% of
Starbucks
customers bring
their own cup,
despite 25p
discount
incentive.
18
What reasons might

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