Developing a long-term climate change mitigation strategy

Political Science

Volumn 60, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 99-115

  Boston, Jonathan ^a  

^a VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON   (New Zealand)

Author keywords

Carbon budgets; Climate change; Emission reduction targets; Long term mitigation strategy; UK climate change bill

Indexed keywords

EID: 57249105502     PISSN: 00323187     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/003231870806000109     Document Type: Article

References (39)

1. For discussion of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including the primary objective see: Ralph Chapman and Jonathan Boston, 'The Nature of the Problem and the Case for Rapid Stabilisation' in Jonathan Boston (ed.), Towards a New Global Climate Treaty: Looking Beyond 2012 (Wellington: Institute of Policy Studies, 2007), pp.37-65;
2. and Murray Ward and Jonathan Boston, 'Current International Climate Change Policy Architecture' in Boston op cit., pp. 67-88.
3. For a more detailed analysis of the distinction between responsibility targets and domestic targets see Ward and Boston, 'Current International Climate Change Policy Architecture', pp. 75-6
4. For details of these 'flexible mechanisms', see Ward and Boston, 'Current International Climate Change Policy Architecture', pp. 75-8.
5. It is recognized that the term 'decarbonizing' is potentially misleading because not all greenhouse gases are carbon based. However, carbon dioxide is the most important greenhouse gas.
6. 2 emissions, it appears unlikely that the government's ambitious 20% reduction target will be achieved.
7. See HM Government, Draft Climate Change Bill, Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, March 2007, Cm 7040.
8. The Ad Hoc Joint Committee on the Draft Climate Change Bill, Draft Climate Change Bill, Volume 1, 24 July 2004, HL Paper 170-1, HC 542-1;
9. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Fifth Report of Session 2006-07, Volume 1, 27 June 2007, HC 534-1;
10. Environmental Audit Committee, Beyond Stern: From the Climate Change Programme Review to the Draft Climate Change Bill, Seventh Report of Session 2006-07, 10 July 2007, HC 460.
11. For a detailed account of the responses to the public consultation on the draft Bill see: Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Final Report to the consultation on the draft Climate Change Bill from 13 March-12 June 2007, October 2007.
12. Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Taking Forward the UK Climate Change Bill: The Government Response to Pre-Legislative Scrutiny and Public Consultation, October 2007, Cm 7225.
13. Quoted in Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Fifth Report of Session 2006-07, p. 7.
14. See New Zealand Government, The Framework for a New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (Wellington: Ministry for the Environment, 2007); and Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference) Bill.
15. For literature on the criteria that should guide the development of domestic and international policies on climate change See Dieter Helm (ed.), Climate-change Policy, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005);
16. Bert Metz et al., (eds.), Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Summary for Policymakers (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007), esp. chapter 13;
17. and Nicholas Stern, The Economics of Climate Change: The Stem Review (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), esp. pp. 351-454.
18. Susan Solomon et al., (eds.), Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group 1 Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Summary for Policymakers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 12.
19. See also Bert Metz et al., (eds.), Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Summary for Policymakers, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
20. Solomon et al., (eds.) Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis, p.12.
21. For a summary of suggested principles and approaches, see: John Ashton and Xueman Wang, 'Equity and climate: In principle and practice' in Joseph Aldy et al., Beyond Kyoto: Advancing the international effort against climate change, (Pew Centre on Global Climate Change, Washington, D.C., 2003), pp. 61-84;
22. Jonathan Boston and Lucas Kengmana, 'Post-2012: Policy Issues and Options', in Boston (ed.), Towards a New Global Climate Treaty: Looking Beyond 2012, pp. 145-157;
23. Simon Caney, 'Cosmopolitan justice, responsibility and global climate change', Leiden Journal of International Law, Vol. 18 (2005), pp. 747-75;
24. Climate Protection Programme, South-North Dialogue on Equity in the Greenhouse: A proposal for an adequate and equitable global climate agreement, (German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Berlin, 2004);
25. Lavanya Rajamani, Differential Treatment in International Environmental Law, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006).
26. 2e) is based on the global warming potential (GWP) of the various greenhouse gases. The GWP is calculated for each greenhouse gas relative to carbon dioxide and constitutes the combined effect of the differing times these gases remain in the atmosphere and their relative effectiveness in absorbing outgoing thermal infrared radiation.
27. UK Climate Change Bill, (section 6[1][a]).
28. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Fifth Report of Session 2006-07, pp. 23-25.
29. HM Government, Draft Climate Change Bill, p. 23.
30. As recommended by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Fifth Report of Session 2006-07, p. 13.
31. Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Taking Forward the UK Climate Change Bill, p.7.
32. Boston and Ward, 'Current International Climate Change Policy Architecture', p.75.
33. See Barbara Buchner, 'Policy Uncertainty, Investment and Commitment Periods', Paris, OECD/IEA, December 2007, COM/ENV/EPOC/IEA/SLT(2007)8.
34. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Fifth Report of Session 2006-07, p.26. The British Government has appointed Lord Jonathan Adair Turner (a leading businessman and academic) as Chair of the Committee. The founding five members (other than the Chair) are: Sir Brian Hoskins, Lord Robert May, Professor Jim Skea, Dr Samuel Frankhauser and Professor Michael Grubb.
35. Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Taking Forward the UK Climate Change Bill, p. 7.
36. For varying perspectives on policy transfers see David Dolowitz and David Marsh, 'Learning from Abroad: The Role of Policy Transfer in Contemporary Policy Making', Governance, Vol. 13 (2000), pp. 5-24;
37. David Dolowitz and David Marsh, 'Who Learns from Whom: A Review of the Policy Transfer Literature', Political Studies, Vol. 44 (1996), pp. 343-57;
38. Mark Evans and Jonathon Davies, 'Understanding Policy Transfer: A Multi-level, Multi-disciplinary Perspective', Public Administration, Vol. 77 (1999), pp.361-385;
39. and Jonathan Boston, 'Origins and Destinations: New Zealand's Model of Public Management and the International Transfer of Ideas', in Patrick Weller and Glyn Davis (eds.) New Ideas, Better Government (Melbourne: Allen and Unwin, 1996), pp. 107-131.