Karen Anderton

Subnational climate entrepreneurship: innovative climate action in California and São Paulo

The distinct role of subnational governments such as states and provinces in addressing climate change has been increasingly acknowledged. But while most studies investigate the causes and consequences of particular governments’ actions and networking activities, this article argues that subnational governments can develop climate action as a collective entrepreneurial activity. Addressing many elements explored in this special issue, it focuses on the second question and identifies climate entrepreneurship in two subnational governments—the states of California (USA) and São Paulo (Brazil). Examining internal action, as well as interaction with local authorities, national governments and the international regime, entrepreneurial activities are identified in the invention, diffusion and evaluation of subnational climate policy in each case. The article draws from the recent scholarship on policy innovation, entrepreneurship and climate governance. It contributes to the literature by exploring entrepreneurial subnational government activity in addressing climate change and expanding the understanding of the effects of policy innovation at the subnational level.

Evidence-based policy as iterative learning: the case of EU biofuels targets

In recent years, certain attempts to promote sustainable transport have fallen victim to the impact of ‘unintended consequences’ on decision-making and policy outcomes. The pressure that European Union biofuel targets place on global food production and the role they play in facilitating deforestation are well-known examples. This paper highlights how policy-makers’ failure to consider evidence relating to the potential impacts of biofuel mandates in the early 2000s led to a host of complex problems developing over subsequent years. Drawing on the concept of problem ‘framing’, the article then examines the extent of policy learning that has taken place since the Biofuels Directive was implemented in 2003. While acknowledging that not all eventualities can be prepared for, the article highlights the importance of enhanced communication and collaboration across different levels and departments of government in policy-making processes as a means of promoting learning, especially when dealing with complex cross-cutting and international social, environmental and economic problems.

Correction to: Subnational climate entrepreneurship: innovative climate action in California and São Paulo

The author missed to acknowledge the financial support from Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment and the ESRC via the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy.

A Roadmap for the EU White Paper Goal on Urban Transport

In its 2011 Transport Policy White Paper, the European Commission introduced ten targets to be met in order to reach a more competitive and resource efficient transport system. The following dual goal focused on urban transport and commuting: “To halve the use of ‘conventionally-fuelled’ cars in urban transport by 2030; and to phase them out by 2050; and to achieve “essentially CO₂-free city logistics in major urban centres by 2030.” The question driving the research behind this paper is how to realise this dual urban transport goal for 2030, taking into consideration existing trends, available policy options, the diverse interests of stakeholders involved in urban mobility in Europe. The paper draws on data gathered in the EU FP7 TRANSFORuM project, including workshop dialogues with stakeholders representing different interests in and perspectives on urban transport and mobility. The main result is a roadmap that proposes a broad strategy to answer the question “Who has to do what, by when” to achieve the urban transport goal. The roadmap includes detailed proposals for action and milestones at different levels of decision making. This paper will describe the process of consultations and the outcomes of the roadmap process and will also discuss the perspectives for implementation.

Lars H. Gulbrandsen: Transnational environmental governance: the emergence and effects of the certification of forests and fisheries

This is a very timely and thorough examination of the emergence of and role played by non-state certification schemes in addressing pressing environmental and commonresource problems. It offers an in-depth investigation into the gaps intended to be filled by both the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and the subsequent impacts and unintended consequences that have resulted from their introduction into the respective industries. Framed in the literature of institutionalism and governance, the book sets about answering questions concerned with the legitimacy and effectiveness of the schemes and the programmes subsequently developed. It offers insightful comparison between the schemes and between the FSC case studies, in terms of the similarities and differences in institutional set up between the FSC and the MSC. It also details how the MSC emerged to deal with the marine sector, in part because of the mostly positive reception to the FSC. The book however does leave some questions unanswered. For example, Gulbrandsen claims that ‘‘an examination of forest and fisheries certification can help us to understand the question of why non-state governance institutions increasingly supplement or supplant state-based territorial government’’ (page 5). For me, personally, this connection is never made. The lack of national or international government responses to address forestry and fishery concerns is acknowledged in the book. However in its explorations of the FSC and MSC (and the alternative producer-based programmes), it does not extend so far as to discuss the broader implications of what the programmes can tell us about the role of nations and international agreements between nations on common-resource issues. The case studies describe situations within countries, but never really embark on a broader reasoning about the role of the state. This would have been a major improvement to the monograph. For this reason, I also had trouble reconciling with the ‘transnational’ in the title. ‘Non-state environmental governance’ might have been more accurate. Similarly, whilst rational institutionalism and sociological institutionalism are thoroughly discussed in the theoretical framing, these terms or rather some of the key notions within these theories are only mentioned in passing throughout the rest of the book. The

Understanding the role of regional influence and innovation in EU policymaking: Bavaria and Cars and CO2:

This article investigates the development and implementation of the EU Cars and CO2 Regulation. It explores the role that Bavaria – as an economically- and politically-powerful German state, with distinct administrative characteristics and a commanding auto-industry – has had in driving both innovation in the region and influencing the policy processes at a supra-national level. Utilising notions from institutional interplay, social-political and cross-disciplinary governance, it demonstrates the complexities in multi-level, multi-actor governance by exploring the interactions between diverse stakeholders and the tensions between multi-level policy mixes. Decarbonisation is a pressing problem to which there are high expectations to find solutions, but certain institutional challenges are hindering progress toward achieving this aim. Fostering innovation is a priority for the Bavarian government, ensuring that the auto-industry continues to deliver economic prosperity and a competitive edge in technological development. This article explores how Bavaria navigated the need to preserve economic development and to reduce emissions from the car industry through influencing the Cars and CO2 negotiations at the European level.