Climate Policy Adoption Research Articles

Going green, growing strong: how climate policy boosts US companies performance

ABSTRACT In response to natural disasters and environmental concerns, the importance of climate policies has significantly gained attention at a global scale including in the United States. The U.S. is re-entering the Paris Agreement in response to the growing severity of climate-related concerns. This move aims to address the urgent need for effective climate policies and highlights the significance of CSR sustainability committees in enhancing both climate and overall business performance. In this vein, this study investigates how climate policy and CSR sustainability committees impact U.S. energy firms. Drawing on a rich dataset extracted from the Refinitiv Eikon database, spanning the years 2004–2021, we apply panel regression incorporating both industry and time-fixed effects. We find that climate policy has a positive association with firm performance. We argue that firms with a climate policy are better positioned to save costs, enhance their reputation, drive innovation, and ultimately improve firm performance. We also find that the CSR sustainability committee is positively associated with firm performance. We claim that the presence of a CSR sustainability committee integrates sustainability into core strategies, enhancing performance by aligning with societal needs and engaging stakeholders. Our empirical findings have important policy implications for corporate managers, investors, and policymakers, highlighting the need to promote the adoption of climate policies and establish CSR sustainability committees, which can contribute to both improved climate outcomes and enhanced firm performance.

Expanding climate policy adoption improves national mitigation efforts

To identify means to improve mitigation efforts, we investigated whether the number of climate policies is associated with emission projections up to 2030 and compared policies’ prevalence across country groups. We find that larger and more comprehensive policy portfolios are conducive to emission reductions, regardless of whether absolute emissions increase or already decline. However, country groups have distinct entry points to expand climate policy. Countries with fast-increasing emissions have significantly fewer policies overall but policies are especially missing in energy-demand sectors, such as buildings and transport. Countries with stalling emissions lack climate strategies and other cross-sectoral policies. This suggests the need for better coordination of mitigation efforts across sectors. In all country groups that fail to reduce emissions, policies to reduce energy and material demand are also substantially fewer. Despite the collective increase of policies in force, countries can still expand climate policy to use the full breadth of mitigation options available.

Prioritizing climate adaptation at the local level in Ghana

<abstract> <p>The increasing intensity and frequency of climate impacts exacerbate pressures on front-line local communities. This calls for location-specific adaptation strategies. Alignment of strategies with respective National Climate Change Strategy is key for the overall sustainability of initiatives and local communities. The work presented in this paper examines the adoption and prioritization of climate adaptation policies at the local level based on a case study of the Adansi North District (AND) in Ghana. An assessment of the extent to which climate adaptation policies are captured and budgeted for was done via a review of the district’s medium-term development and key political actors were interviewed to assess the level of priority they place on climate adaptation. Findings from the study reveal that 41% of the locally adopted policies directly align with stipulated national level policies. We attribute the adoption of climate policies in AND to local political actors having higher education which has afforded them good understanding of the climate change phenomenon, being experienced professionals and having to work within institutional rubrics that make climate policy formulation a requirement. However, little priority is given to these policies for implementation, mainly through the non-allocation of funds. We account for this with the weak environmental advocacy in the district and exchange between actors on adaptation. Furthermore, partisan actors who already wield veto powers and can promote policies that may not necessarily support adaptation measures, often do so, since their interest is to become popular among electorates who also prefer infrastructure over environmental policies. We conclude that although climate adaptation policies are fairly adopted and budgeted for in AND, they have not received commensurate priority for implementation. Recommendations are proposed for addressing this.</p> </abstract>

Dynamic Policy Diffusion in the Metropolis: Unpacking Spatial and Ideological Dimensions of Local Climate Policy Adoption in Southern California

This study examines the dynamic diffusion processes of local policy adoption among the city governments in Southern California. Using climate change policy as a study frame, our analysis unpacks the spatial and ideological dimensions of the local policy diffusion process. Specifically, we theorize how the diffusion effects of geographic neighbors and ideological peers on the likelihood of a focal city's policy adoption vary geographically across jurisdictions. We first use traditional Event History Analysis to examine the aggregate effects of geographic neighbors and ideological peers in the diffusion process. We then investigate the inter-jurisdictional diffusion dynamics in further detail, using a novel Geographically Weighted Regression technique to unravel the local effects that vary by individual jurisdictions. We find that geographic neighbors drive the diffusion process of local climate policy adoptions, while ideologically similar peers do not. The application of Geographically Weighted Regression further indicates that some municipalities are influenced strongly by adjacent neighbors, while others respond to more geographically distant policy adopters. These results are consistent with our original hypothesis, which posits how local jurisdictions may differentially respond to the diffusion process in the presence and absence of nearby regional leaders and favorable governing climate for the policy enactment. Future studies should consider evaluating the spatially dynamic diffusion processes occurring across jurisdictions for different policies and political jurisdictions.

The Political Viability of Carbon Pricing: Policy Design and Framing in British Columbia and California

AbstractThe adoption of climate policies with visible, substantial costs for households is uncommon because of expected political backlash, but British Columbia's carbon tax and California's cap‐and‐trade program imposed such costs and still survived vigorous opposition. To explain these outcomes, this article tests hypotheses concerning policy design, framing, energy prices, and elections. It conducts universalizing and variation‐finding comparisons across three subcases in the two jurisdictions and uses primary sources to carry out process tracing involving mechanisms of public opinion and elite position‐taking. The article finds strong support for the timing of independent energy price changes, exogenous causes of election results, reducing the visibility of carbon pricing, and using public‐benefit justifications, as well as some support for making concessions to voters. By contrast, the effects of the use of revenue, industry exemptions/compensations, and making polluters pay are not uniform, because the effects of revenue use depend on how it is embedded in coalition building efforts and a middle path between exempting or compensating industry and burdening it appears to be more effective than pursuing just one or the other approach.

What drives climate policy adoption in the U.S. states?

Abstract: Climate advocates increasingly view state policy as a crucial tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. However, the literature lacks systematic empirical analysis of which, when, and why states adopt policies mitigating climate change. While traditional climate federalism highlights the co-benefits to climate policies in driving subnational policy decisions, more recent work emphasizes the powerful role of partisan control of office. I collect and analyze panel data measuring the strength of state policy from 2007 to 2014 in four areas: renewable portfolio standards, distributed generation, energy efficiency, and severance taxes on oil and gas extraction. While renewable portfolio standards and distributed generation policies were driven primarily by Democratic partisanship in state electorates, energy efficiency policies were less responsive to Democratic partisanship but marginally responsive to unified Democratic control of state government. Finally, these political factors did not measurably influence state severance taxes.

Think globally, act locally: adoption of climate action plans in California

California has been a global leader in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The state has set an ambitious goal of reducing GHG to 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. The statewide goal cannot be accomplished without the support of local stakeholders. We analyzed over 150 city climate action plans (CAPs) in California and examined their reduction goals. We hypothesized five sets of factors that can explain whether a jurisdiction adopts a plan or not, and what kind of target it sets. We find that size of the city, political ideology, and institutional capacity are related to a higher chance of adopting a climate action plan, while political ideology and air quality explain the extent of aspiration of targets. We also find evidence of policy diffusion where neighbors are more likely to adopt plans. Our findings identify gaps in the CAPs within the state and address what lessons can be learned from the Californian experience of local climate policy adoption and goal-setting.

Carbon emissions and climate policy support by local governments in California: a qualitative comparative analysis at the county level

Drawing from the existing social science literature, we examine the relationship between fossil fuel use and the adoption of policy to address climate change at the local level. In our analysis, we incorporate direct measures of fossil fuel use in a manner that allows us to distinguish carbon emissions from consumption-based and production-based activities. Focusing on the 36 most populous and urbanized counties within the state of California, we merge these emissions, along with other political and economic measures, with an indicator of extensive policy support derived from climate agreement signatories. We then use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to examine conditions that are sufficient for broad adoption of climate policy within a given county. Based on the results, we frame consumption-based and production-based emissions as distinctive in the way that their relationship with climate policy adoption depends on other favorable political and economic conditions. In particular, we identify several routes to extensive adoption for counties that have a combination of low emissions and a favorable political environment. In the conclusion, we discuss the QCA findings and elaborate on the theoretical and practical implications for efforts to understand and to promote carbon reduction efforts at the local level.

The importance of salience: public opinion and state policy action on climate change

AbstractHow does the salience of environmental issues influence climate policy adoption in the American states? This article considers how two aspects of public salience, issue problem status and issue attention, work with environmental interest group membership to influence climate policy adoption in the American states. We contribute to the theoretical development of issue salience and offer alternative measures that capture differences in salience across subnational units. We find evidence that states where climate change is perceived to be a problem, and where attention to environmental issues is high, are more likely to adopt relevant policies. Furthermore, states with Republican majorities in either legislative chamber are less likely to adopt climate policies. Our findings have implications for the impact of salience on the policy process.

Not Waiting for Washington: Climate Policy Adoption in California and New York

THE UNITED STATES’ FEDERAL CLIMATE change mitigation policies are widely seen as weak and ineffective, especially in cross-national comparison.1 Before the Barack Obama administration, these policies were limited mainly to voluntary measures and were not guided by overall emissions reduction targets. Partly as a result, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased 10.4 percent from 1990 to 2010.2 In the absence of strong national action, many state governments adopted climate policies beginning in the early 2000s. The main policies include greenhouse gas emissions targets and climate action plans; support for energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy development; energy efficiency and carbon dioxide emissions standards for vehicles, appliances, buildings, and power plants; and mandatory cap-and-trade systems for greenhouse gases.3 The governments of about a dozen states, clustered in the Northeast and on the West Coast, have adopted relatively strong climate policies. That is, they have ambitious goals, have pursued a very wide range of policies, started policymaking earlier than other states, and have made reasonable progress in implementation.4

Subsistence over symbolism: the role of transnational municipal networks on cities\u2019 climate policy innovation and adoption

Urban areas account for the majority of global greenhouse gas emissions, and increasingly, it is city governments that are adopting and implementing climate mitigation policies. Many municipal governments have joined two different global city networks that aim to promote climate policy development at the urban scale, and there is qualitative evidence that such networks play an important role in motivating cities to adopt climate policies and helping them to implement them. Our study objective is to test this proposition quantitatively, making use of a global database on cities’ environmental policy adoption, and also taking into account a large number of other factors that could play a role in climate policy adoption. Controlling for these other factors, we find that network membership does make a significant difference in the number of different measures that city governments adopt. We also find that there are significant differences between the two different networks, suggesting that the nature of the services that such networks offer their members can play an important role. Our findings lead to the provision of a set of global mitigation strategies: First of all, joining the city networks can lead to a generation of global strategies which can result into climate mitigation benefits. However, cities are required to select the network which provides proper tailor made policies. Second, in the absence of concrete international commitments at the local level, city networks lay the ground for global governance and enable cities to adopt policies independently and proactively. Third, consideration of co-benefits of climate policies can optimize the development of global strategies.

Not Waiting for Washington: Climate Policy Adoption in California and New York

In the absence of strong U.S. national climate change policy, California and New York, among other states, adopted relatively comprehensive and ambitious policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions during the 2000s. They adopted these policies despite political-institutional and other structural barriers similar to those found nationally, which shows that political actors have significant scope for taking effective action even under structural constraints. This article explains the adoption of climate policies in these two leading states by using a windows of opportunity approach, which analyzes how the convergence of problem and political events produces policy windows and hence opportunities for advocacy coalitions to mobilize successfully for the adoption of major policies. It uses this framework to explain four episodes of state-level climate policy adoption, including: motor vehicle emissions and renewable energy policy in California (2002); emissions reduction targets, a low-carbon fuel standard, and emissions trading in California (2006-2008); a renewable portfolio standard and emissions trading in New York (2002-2003); and an energy efficiency standard and stricter renewable portfolio standard in New York (2007-2010). The convergence of problem and political events, including scientific reports, focusing events, election results, political leadership, and interest-group mobilization, led to these bursts of innovation, which helped to overcome structural barriers to climate policy adoption.

Increasing Participation in Climate Policy Implementation: A Case for Engaging SMEs from the Transport Sector in the City of São Paulo

In a number of cities around the world the adoption of climate policies has been driven by partnerships between multiple actors from the private sector, NGOs, and academia. With this paper we investigate the formulation and implementation processes of climate policy in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. We argue that the trend of multiactor and multilevel participation in climate policy making, detected in developed countries, can be observed in a major city from an emerging economy. We further argue that the ample engagement of actors driving the adoption of climate policies might not be reflected in policy implementation. Although São Paulo's Municipal Climate Law was adopted after a participatory process, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the transport sector have been largely absent from its implementation. We propose four reasons for further involvement of SMEs and suggest that participation of relevant actors and sectors is necessary in both the formulation and the implementation of climate policies.

Influences on Adoption of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets among US States, 1998-2008.

While the United States has not established federal regulations for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets, many US states have adopted their own standards and guidelines. In this study we examine state adoption of targets for GHG reductions during the ten-year period of 1998-2008, and identify factors that explain variation in target adoption. Potential influences are drawn from research from the public policy formulation and diffusion literature, and from studies specific to climate policy adoption. Potential influences on GHG reduction efforts among US states include socioeconomic attributes of residents, political and ideological orientations of citizens and state government, interest group activities, environmental pressures, and proximity to other states that have adopted GHG reduction targets. The findings of the multinomial logistic regression analysis indicate that states are more likely to adopt GHG reduction targets if they share a border with another state with a similar climate program and if their citizens are more ideologically liberal. Other factors including socioeconomic resources and interest group activities were not found to be associated with policy adoption. The findings yield insights into the conditions under which states are more likely to take action to reduce GHG's, and are relevant both to state policy makers and residents with an interest in climate planning, and for researchers attempting to estimate future greenhouse gas reduction scenarios.

Addressing leakage in the EU ETS: Border adjustment or output-based allocation?

The EU ETS has been criticised for threatening the competitiveness of European industry and generating carbon leakage, i.e. increasing foreign greenhouse gas emissions. Two main options have been put forward to tackle these concerns: border adjustments and output-based allocation, i.e. allocation of free allowances in proportion to current production. We compare various configurations of these two options, as well as a scenario with full auctioning and no border adjustment. Against this background, we develop a model of the main sectors covered by the EU ETS: electricity, steel, cement and aluminium. We conclude that the most efficient way to tackle leakage is auctioning with border adjustment, which generally induces a negative leakage (a spillover). This holds even if the border adjustment does not include indirect emissions, if it is based on EU (rather than foreign) specific emissions, or (for some values of the parameters) if it covers only imports. Another relatively efficient policy is to combine auctioning in the electricity sector and output-based allocation in exposed industries, especially if free allowances are given both for direct and indirect emissions, i.e. those generated by the generation of the electricity consumed. Although output-based allocation is generally less effective than border adjustment to tackle leakage, it is more effective to mitigate production losses in the sectors affected by the ETS, which may ease climate policy adoption.

Paradiplomacy and Climate Change: American States as Actors in Global Climate Governance

Abstract American states have taken the lead in US climate policy over the past decade, implementing the goals of the Kyoto Protocol in the absence of ratification by the federal government. These developments serve as practical models for post-Kyoto climate policy and have theoretical implications for the treatment of atypical non-state actors in the study of global climate governance. The entrance of sub-national actors into foreign policy, or paradiplomacy, is examined in this study to highlight the international implications of climate policy adoption among the American states. A typology of American state actions is presented, and future options for bottom-up climate policy in the United States are considered.

The Strategic Value of Unilateral Abatement in Games of Climate Change Policy

Unilateral abatement of greenhouse gas emissions is not often explicitly considered in game-theoretic models of climate policy adoption and in reality is often justified on grounds of non-climatic benefits. We develop one non-cooperative static game and two non-cooperative dynamic games that show how allowing players to respond to commitments to unilaterally abate emissions expands the range of parameter values that support joint abatement. Importantly, joint abatement occurs only via initial unilateral abatement whenever the parameter values support joint abatement in the two dynamic games but not in the static game. The dynamic games also show that if unilateral abatement lowers costs for later abaters, then still more states of the world support joint abatement. When assessing the climatic benefits of unilateral abatement, we should consider not only the direct reductions in the abater's emissions but also the effect on other emitters' future adoption of climate policies. Unilateral abaters may want to design their climate policy instruments so as to encourage future abatement by others, which could mean focusing on the promotion of technological innovation and diffusion and on providing policy models that others could adapt to their own contexts.