Community Governance and Citizen-Driven Initiatives in Climate Change Mitigation
Community Governance and Citizen-Driven Initiatives in Climate Change Mitigation

Author: Jens Hoff

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-08-20

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1317458427

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One of the most heartening developments in climate change mitigation in recent years has been the increasing attention paid to the principle of ‘thinking globally and acting locally’. The failure of the international community to reach significant global agreements on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has led local governments, environmental organisations and citizens themselves to focus increasingly on the local possibilities for action on climate change. This book analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the co-production of climate policies that take place where citizen engagement and local initiatives converge with public agencies. Case studies from Northern Europe, Australia/New Zealand and the USA reveal that traditional individualist approaches to promoting environmental behaviour epitomised by information campaigns and economic incentives cannot trigger the deep behavioural changes required to materially improve our response to climate change. Only by marshalling the forces of thousands, and eventually millions of citizens, can we manage to reach environmental sceptics, reinforce political action and create the new social norms that are sorely needed in our local, and global, response to climate change. This book will be of great relevance to scholars and policy makers with an interest in climate change politics and governance, community engagement and sustainable development.

Community Governance and Citizen-Driven Initiatives in Climate Change Mitigation
Community Governance and Citizen-Driven Initiatives in Climate Change Mitigation

Author: Jens Hoff

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-08-20

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 1317458419

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One of the most heartening developments in climate change mitigation in recent years has been the increasing attention paid to the principle of ‘thinking globally and acting locally’. The failure of the international community to reach significant global agreements on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has led local governments, environmental organisations and citizens themselves to focus increasingly on the local possibilities for action on climate change. This book analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the co-production of climate policies that take place where citizen engagement and local initiatives converge with public agencies. Case studies from Northern Europe, Australia/New Zealand and the USA reveal that traditional individualist approaches to promoting environmental behaviour epitomised by information campaigns and economic incentives cannot trigger the deep behavioural changes required to materially improve our response to climate change. Only by marshalling the forces of thousands, and eventually millions of citizens, can we manage to reach environmental sceptics, reinforce political action and create the new social norms that are sorely needed in our local, and global, response to climate change. This book will be of great relevance to scholars and policy makers with an interest in climate change politics and governance, community engagement and sustainable development.

Contested Energy Futures
Contested Energy Futures

Author: Stuart Rosewarne

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-06-11

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 9811902240

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This book unpacks the politics of climate change in Australia in the context of successive conservative Coalition governments resisting any moves to mitigate emissions and as local communities and transnational corporations struggle with each other to control the transition to a sustainable energy future. As Australia has abundant clean energy resources in terms of solar and wind, the book offers a test case for study of the energy policy transition in the 21st century. It does so by using tools from political economy and sociology, teasing out public attitudes to renewable energy technologies and innovative infrastructure investments, unpacking the complex parameters of this historical debate, tracing the rise of household 'prosumers' and arguing the case for grassroots ownership of renewable infrastructure or 'energy sovereignty' - already pioneered by some isolated communities in Australia. The cultural and emancipatory benefits of cooperative ventures are well known. However, capitalism is not readily defeated by democracy. The promotion of individual households as 'virtual power stations', of 'smart technologies' and even of cryptocurrency into the energy transition innovative mix opens up ever new horizons for corporate control.

Handbook on the Governance of Sustainable Development
Handbook on the Governance of Sustainable Development

Author: Russel, Duncan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2022-07-15

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1789904323

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This Handbook brings together state-of-the-art contributions and international insights outlining the key theoretical developments and empirical findings related to sustainable development and governance. Providing both an overview and deep dive into the topic, it demonstrates how the concept of sustainable development and governance has led to multiple responses in both the academic and policy world from a theoretical, conceptual and operational viewpoint.

The Routledge Handbook of Scandinavian Politics
The Routledge Handbook of Scandinavian Politics

Author: Peter Nedergaard

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-08-09

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 1317443780

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The Routledge Handbook of Scandinavian Politics is a comprehensive overview of Scandinavian politics provided by leading experts in the field and covering the polity, the politics and the policy of Scandinavia. Coherently structured with a multi-level thematic approach, it explains and details Scandinavian politics today through a series of cutting-edge chapters. It will be a key reference point both for advanced-level students developing knowledge about the subject, as well as researchers producing new material in the area and beyond. It brings geographical scope and depth, with comparative chapters contributed by experts across the region. Methodologically and theoretically pluralistic, the handbook is in itself a reflection of the field of political science in Scandinavia and the diversity of the issues covered in the volume. The Routledge Handbook of Scandinavian Politics will be an essential reference for scholars, students, researchers and practitioners interested and working in the fields of Scandinavian politics, European politics, comparative politics and international relations.

The Role of Non-State Actors in the Green Transition
The Role of Non-State Actors in the Green Transition

Author: Jens Hoff

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-09-02

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 100058674X

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This book argues that there is no way to make progress in building a sustainable future without extensive participation of non-state actors. The volume explores the contribution of non-state actors to a sustainable transition, starting with citizens and communities of different kinds and ending with cities and city-networks. The authors analyse social, cultural, political and economic drivers and barriers for this transition, from individual behaviour to structural restraints, and investigate interplay between the two. Through a series of wide-ranging case studies from the UK, Australia, Germany, Italy and Denmark, and a number of comparative case studies, the volume provides an empirically and theoretically robust argument that highlights the need to develop, widen and scale up collective action and community-based engagement if the transition to sustainability is to be successful. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, sustainability and environmental policy.

Institutional Capacity for Climate Change Response
Institutional Capacity for Climate Change Response

Author: Theresa Scavenius

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-12-15

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1317309782

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In a period of rapid climate change and climate governance failures, it is crucial to understand and address how effectively different political institutions can and should react to climate change. The term 'institutional response capacity' can be defined as a measurement for how effective political institutions may respond to threats and challenges such as climate change. This book sets out to provide a venue for the discussion of how to conduct climate politics by offering new perspectives on how social and political institutions are capable of responding to climate change. In doing so, the book explores how democracy, institutional design and polycentric governance influence social and political entities’ capacity to mitigate, adapt, address and transform climate change. The book offers building blocks for a new agenda of climate studies by focusing on institutional response capacity and by offering a new approach to climate governance at a time when many political initiatives have failed. This interdisciplinary volume is a valuable resource for academics, researchers and policy-makers in the areas of anthropology, political science, geography and environmental studies.

Strategies for Rapid Climate Mitigation
Strategies for Rapid Climate Mitigation

Author: Laurence L Delina

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-06-10

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 1317238702

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To keep the global average temperature from rising further than 2°C, emissions must peak soon and then fall steeply. This book examines how such rapid mitigation can proceed – in the scale and speed required for effective climate action – using an analogy provided by the mobilisation for a war that encompassed nations, the Second World War. Strategies for Rapid Climate Mitigation examines the wartime-climate analogy by drawing lessons from wartime mobilisations to develop contingency plans for a scenario where governments implement stringent mitigation programs as an ‘insurance policy’ where we pay for future benefits. Readers are provided a picture of how these programs could look, how they would work, what could trigger them, and the challenges in execution. The book analyses in detail one plausible approach to a crucial issue – an approach built upon knowledge of climate science and on proven and demonstrated mitigation measures. The book is meshed with a social and political analysis that draws upon narratives of mobilisations during the war to meet a transnational threat, while also addressing the shortcomings of the analogy and its strategies. The book will be of great interest to scholars, students, and practitioners of public policy, climate policy, energy policy, international relations, and strategic studies.

Community Action and Climate Change
Community Action and Climate Change

Author: Jennifer Kent

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-11-19

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 1317416961

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The failure of recent international negotiations to progress global action on climate change has shifted attention to the emergence of grassroots sustainability initiatives. These civil society networks display the potential to implement social innovation and change processes from the ‘bottom up’. Recent scholarship has sought to theorise grassroots community-based low carbon practices in terms of their sustainability transition potential. However there are few empirical examples that demonstrate the factors for success of community-based social innovations in achieving more widespread adoption outside of their local, sustainability ‘niche’. The book seeks to address two significant gaps related to grassroots climate action: firstly the continuing dominance of the individualisation of responsibility for climate change action which presupposes that individuals hold both the ability and desire to shift their behaviours and lifestyle choices to align with a low carbon future. Secondly, the potential for community-based collectives to influence mainstream climate change governance, an area significantly under researched. Drawing on empirical research into Australian Climate Action Groups (CAGs) and related international research, the book argues that grassroots community-based collective action on climate change holds the key to broader social change. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, citizen participation, environmental sociology and sustainable development.

Local Action on Climate Change
Local Action on Climate Change

Author: Susie Moloney

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-08-31

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1134810903

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There is growing interest in analysing the role and effectiveness of the local scale in responding to the global challenge of climate change. However, while accounts of urban climate change governance are growing, there is now a real need for further conceptual and empirical work to better understand processes of change and uptake across a range of climate change actions. Local Action on Climate Change examines how local climate change responses are emerging, being operationalized and evaluated within a range of geographical and socio-political contexts across the globe. Focussing on the role and potential of local governments, non-government organisations and community groups in driving transformative change, the authors analyse how local climate change responses have emerged and explore the extent to which they are or have the potential to be innovative or transformative in terms of governance, policy and practice change. Drawing on a diverse range of case studies, including examples from Vanuatu, Japan, South Africa, Australia, Sweden, the USA and India, this volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, environmental policy and governance, and sustainability.