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1 – 10 of over 55000Zhenghong Tang, Zijia Wang and Thomas Koperski
The purpose of this study is to measure local climate change response capacity and identify the existing gaps between local climate change action plans and land use plans.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to measure local climate change response capacity and identify the existing gaps between local climate change action plans and land use plans.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses content analysis method to statistically analyze 40 pioneering local jurisdictions' climate change action plans and land use plans.
Findings
The results show significant gaps in the two types of plans. Local climate change action plans have a higher quality of plan components including factual basis, targets, coordination, and communication than local land use plans. However, local land use plans have an even higher quality of policy plan components than action plans.
Originality/value
This study has extended established climate change concepts and practices by incorporating climate change considerations into the existing framework of local decision making.
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Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to explore the current literature and ideas on how local climate change action (both mitigation and adaptation) could be intensified.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the current literature and ideas on how local climate change action (both mitigation and adaptation) could be intensified.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review of Australian and international academic journals and policy documents on the current views of effective local climate action was conducted. Additional data on Australian grassroots community activities was compiled from the internet, participant observation and secondary sources.
Findings
The paper argues that local climate action is important and three key aspects could provide effective avenues to step‐up local climate action. These three avenues are: increased attention to local adaptation; the linking of adaptation and mitigation efforts together and with other local ecological concerns; and greater engagement with active community members and grassroots community‐initiated climate change actions. These three key aspects could give climate change a local saliency and tangibility, spur more effective action, build community resilience and reduce vulnerability.
Research limitations/implications
Research is in the explorative stages and, therefore, only tentative conclusions and possible future directions can be suggested.
Practical implications
The avenues identified to scale‐up local action on climate change could be readily utilised by local governments and/or other interested groups.
Originality/value
The paper disseminates three compelling ways that climate action could be intensified at the local scale, and possibly create greater public engagement and avenues to innovative approaches to tackle climate change.
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Mélinda Noblet and Genevieve Brisson
In recent years, the manifestation of the effects of climate change in coastal zones has prompted governments to mobilize and propose adaptation measures to reduce the…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years, the manifestation of the effects of climate change in coastal zones has prompted governments to mobilize and propose adaptation measures to reduce the vulnerability of their populations. For the governments responsible for the implementation of climate policies, adaptation still represents a novel field of action. The purpose of this paper is to show, via the example of Quebec’s coastal zone, how the transformation of public action relating to adaptation remains difficult.
Design/methodology/approach
For this case study, a qualitative method which combines documentary analysis and semi-directed interviews was selected.
Findings
The study shows how adaptation becomes a new issue in public action for the different authorities dealing with the effects of climate change in Quebec’s coastal zone. However, the results show that, as with other public policies, path dependence and incrementalism can be observed and limit the scope of public action and of the transformational processes in the field of adaptation. The technical–scientific approach to risk management is dominant, and the adaptation is not approached in a transversal way, despite its importance. Finally, concrete adaptation initiatives appear to be mostly relegated to the local scale, in an informal decentralization process.
Originality/value
This study contributes to improve climate action by favouring a reflection on the consideration of the conceptual and theoretical framework in the climate change adaptation literature and offers decision-makers and practitioners keys to the understanding of mechanisms underlying public action in the field of adaptation.
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Jessica Emma McLean and Sara Fuller
A recent mainstream intervention in Australia involved the creation of a climate change communication institution, the Climate Council, from crowdfunding and support in social…
Abstract
Purpose
A recent mainstream intervention in Australia involved the creation of a climate change communication institution, the Climate Council, from crowdfunding and support in social media. Such digital action invites further examination of supporters’ motivations. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the reported intentions and interests of the Climate Council’s supporters to gain a better understanding of mainstream climate change action in digital spaces.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports on a survey that was undertaken by the Climate Council with their Founding Friends that sought to understand their motivations for supporting the institution. The survey received over 10,000 responses. From four selected questions, the paper considers all of the quantitative responses while a random sample of 100 responses was taken from the qualitative data.
Findings
The data show that most Climate Council supporters were motivated to maintain an institution that communicates the impacts of climate change while a minority desired more political engagement by the institution. The results capture an example of action with limited conscious activism.
Originality/value
Digital spaces fundamentally need the interconnections between people in order to function, in a similar way to physical spaces. Nonetheless, the power of online action, in all its contradictory forms, should not be overlooked in considering the range of possibilities available to those interested in effecting meaningful social change. Even mainstream interventions, as presented in this paper, that seem to disavow climate change activism on the whole, can nevertheless produce institutional changes that defy national governance shifts.
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Elise Stephenson and Sarah Furman
This paper aims to explore synergies between feminist, first nations and queer theories and social, circular and climate entrepreneurship, to build a framework for supporting…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore synergies between feminist, first nations and queer theories and social, circular and climate entrepreneurship, to build a framework for supporting climate just entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on an extensive qualitative review of the literature on gender justice, equality, social entrepreneurship, the circular economy, climate entrepreneurship and climate action, as well as theorising feminist, first nations and queer approaches to climate action through entrepreneurship.
Findings
Whilst climate change is a “threat multiplier” for existing gender (and other) inequalities, gaps remain in engraining gender equality and gender justice principles in social, circular and climate entrepreneurship. Through analysing the literature for critical gaps and theorising at the intersection of climate entrepreneurship and feminist, first nations and queer theories, the authors advocate that a framework for climate just entrepreneurship could play a pivotal role in combining proactive climate action and gender equality measures through entrepreneurship. It could also be a significant step towards ensuring entrenched, systemic inequalities are not perpetuated in nascent and rapidly evolving fields such as the circular economy, social enterprise and climate entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
The literature on climate entrepreneurship is burgeoning, yet key entrepreneurial concepts lack an explicitly feminist or gender lens approach, even whilst being inextricably linked to effective climate action. This paper seeks to rectify this gap by promoting climate just entrepreneurship as a model for effective climate action.
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Georgia Warren-Myers, Anna Hurlimann and Judy Bush
To identify barriers to climate change adaptation in the Australian property industry.
Abstract
Purpose
To identify barriers to climate change adaptation in the Australian property industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews with twenty-four stakeholders from a diverse cross-section of the Australian property industry were undertaken in 2018 and 2019.
Findings
A range of barriers to action on climate change were identified. These barriers centre around (1) information: lack of clear, reliable, and trusted sources of climate change information; (2) cost: competing economic demands, and the perceived threat that investing in climate change action poses to competitiveness; and (3) regulation: the inaction of governments thus failing to provide a regulatory environment to address climate change.
Research limitations/implications
The qualitative research provides perspectives from actors in different sectors of the Australian property industry. While it provides an in-depth understanding of the barriers to addressing climate change adaptation, it is not necessarily a nationally representative sample.
Practical implications
The study identifies barriers to climate change adaptation, and establishes practical ways in which the Australian property industry can address these barriers and the role that government regulation could have in generating industry-wide change.
Social implications
Climate change poses significant challenges to society. Built environments are significant contributors to climate change, and thus the property industry is well-placed to make positive contributions to this global challenge.
Originality/value
Limited research has examined barriers to climate change action in the property industry. This research provides novel insights from the perspective of key actors across a diverse range of property industry sectors. This new knowledge fills an important gap in understanding how to address climate change in Australia and broader contexts.
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Saleem Janjua, Ian Thomas and Darryn McEvoy
The purpose of this paper is to identify and critically examine a framing of key characteristics for climate change adaptation learning and action in the context of urban…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and critically examine a framing of key characteristics for climate change adaptation learning and action in the context of urban Pakistani local government.
Design/methodology/approach
The research employed a combination of approaches; predominantly literature review and interview methodologies. Recognising the need to understand climate change adaptation as an iterative learning process, the literature review concentrated on organisational and policy learning, with special consideration given to those characteristics most pertinent to urban governance in the Pakistani context. This analysis was then furthered through primary data collated through a series of interviews, with the City District Government of Lahore as the chosen case study for this piece of research. Initial scoping interviews were followed up by a series of in‐depth, semi‐structured, interviews with local government officials, an assessment process used to examine conceptual evidence and findings in the Pakistani urban context. A total of 21 Pakistani professionals, working in a variety of roles for local government, were subject to the interview process.
Findings
From a critical analysis of conceptual and real world evidence, the authors identified six discrete characteristics that could be used to frame the context of climate change adaptation learning and action in the Pakistani urban local government context. These have been categorised as: leadership for adaptation, vision for adaptation, culture for adaptation, good governance for adaptation, innovation and creativity for adaptation and resources for adaptation.
Originality/value
The value of this paper is several‐fold: it applies a learning perspective to the climate change adaptation debate, identifies a framing of key characteristics for climate change adaptation learning and action, and uses an actor‐based approach to examine some of the key conceptual ideas in the Pakistani urban context.
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Olga Garanina, Daria Klishevich and Andrei Panibratov
This study aims to explore when and under what conditions state-owned enterprises (SOEs) become important players in orchestrating the global climate action and what their roles…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore when and under what conditions state-owned enterprises (SOEs) become important players in orchestrating the global climate action and what their roles are as domestic or international (de)carbonizers.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper that aims to advance understanding of the role of SOEs in addressing the global climate challenge. The authors build on the institutional theory to capture the importance of home-country climate regulation mechanisms and advance knowledge on the internationalization of SOEs. The authors review the literature on the institutional boundaries that shape the environmental activities of firms at home and abroad and develop the argument on the influence of home country institutions and internationalization on the role of SOEs in the global climate agenda.
Findings
In this study, the authors elaborate the SOEs’ climate action matrix and offer three propositions based on the fact that SOEs’ environmental strategies are driven by the interests of the state as owner and the scope of SOEs’ internationalization. First, the authors propose that the level of home country’s climate policy ambition explains SOEs’ stance on climate action. Second, scope of internationalization explains SOEs’ stance on climate action. Third, the progressive/increasing involvement of SOEs in climate action enhances the country’s climate stance.
Originality/value
The authors incorporate the climate argument into international business (IB) studies of SOEs’ internationalization, a novel approach that helps us to advance the knowledge on the complex issue of corporate climate action. The authors argue for a dynamic and reciprocal relationship between home/host countries and SOEs’ climate engagement. In doing this, the authors contribute to the IB research and policy agenda by exploring SOEs’ engagement in advancing the global climate agenda.
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Ronald C. Kramer and Rob White
This chapter examines SDG 13 which deals with efforts to combat climate change. The chapter begins by outlining the targets related to this goal, the trend towards increased…
Abstract
This chapter examines SDG 13 which deals with efforts to combat climate change. The chapter begins by outlining the targets related to this goal, the trend towards increased heating of the planet and failures to curtail carbon emissions. This is framed using criminological concepts such as state-corporate crime and carbon criminality. The major concern of the rest of the chapter is to outline a climate action plan. As part of this, it discusses a range of initiatives currently underway intended to pressure governments to take more concerted action around climate change. These include activist interventions and climate litigation. The chapter concludes by exploring the possibilities and obligations of global community action to address the most important issue of our era.
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Community perception of climate change is a factor in increasing local awareness of climate disaster risk. This encourages more disaster risk reduction actions by the communities…
Abstract
Community perception of climate change is a factor in increasing local awareness of climate disaster risk. This encourages more disaster risk reduction actions by the communities themselves, and thus, provides a driver for sustainable community disaster risk management (DRM) initiatives. Using these hypotheses, this chapter assesses whether the communities’ climate change perceptions, awareness of climate hazardous risk, and subsequent actions on DRR enable local DRM capacity to reduce the increasing climate disaster risk. The study conducts household surveys with an original questionnaire in four communities in Cartago City, Costa Rica.
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