Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T09:11:23.278Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Carbon Mitigation Policies, Distributional Dilemmas and Social Policies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2013

IAN GOUGH
IAN GOUGH*
Affiliation:
Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics, London WC2A 2AE email: i.gough@lse.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Contemporary policies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) will have distributive consequences and thus implications for the scope and remit of social policy. This paper studies current carbon mitigation policies and their distributive impacts. It considers a range of current and proposed social programmes to ameliorate these impacts, before proposing alternatives. This argument is pursued in two parts according to whether emissions are conceived and accounted within a production or a consumption framework. The first part works within the Kyoto policy framework, critiques the present suite of policies and suggests alternative policy scenarios that may better marry together the goals of carbon reduction and social equity. The second half justifies and operationalises a broader focus on all GHGs emitted by British consumers, whether directly or embodied in goods and services. It argues that to target these will require going beyond the current policy paradigm to develop more radical policies to modify preferences and behaviour, and to constrain total consumption demand. It then speculates on ways that new social policy programmes might combine the pursuit of these goals together with social equity.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , April 2013 , pp. 191 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baer, P. (2011), ‘International justice’, in Dryzek, J. S., Norgaard, R. B. and Schlosberg, D. (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Baiocchi, G., Minx, J. and Hubacek, J. (2010), ‘The impact of social factors and consumer behavior on carbon dioxide emissions in the United Kingdom’, Journal of Industrial Ecology, 14: 1, 50–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benzie, M., Harvey, A., Burningham, K., Hodgson, N. and Siddiqi, A. (2011), Vulnerability to Heat Waves and Drought: Case Studies of Adaptation to Climate Change in South-West England, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/climate-change-adaptation-full.pdf (accessed on 11/06/2011).Google Scholar
Boardman, B. (2010), Fixing Fuel Poverty, London: Earthscan.Google Scholar
Bowen, A. and Rydge, J. (2011), Climate Change Policy in the UK, OECD Policy Paper, ECO/WKP(2011)000, London: OECD.Google Scholar
Bows, A. and Barrett, J. (2010), ‘Cumulative emissions scenarios using a consumption-based approach: a glimmer of hope?’, Carbon Management, 1: 1, 161–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Büchs, M., Bardsley, N. and Duwe, S. (2011), ‘Who bears the brunt? Distributional effects of climate change mitigation policies’, Critical Social Policy, 31: 2, 285–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burchardt, T. (2008), ‘Time and income poverty’, CASE report No. 57, London School of Economics, London.Google Scholar
Caney, S. (2009), ‘Human rights, responsibilities and climate change’, in Beitz, C. R. and Goodin, R. E. (eds.), Global Basic Rights, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Committee on Climate Change (2008), Building a Low-Carbon Economy − the UK's Contribution to Tackling Climate Change, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Committee on Climate Change (2010), The Fourth Carbon Budget, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) (2010), Estimated Impacts of Energy and Climate Change Policies on Energy Prices and Bills, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) (2008), A Framework for Pro-Environmental Behaviours, http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/files/pb13574-behaviours-report-080110.pdf.Google Scholar
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) (2012), UK Climate Change Risk Assessment: Government Report, London: DEFRA.Google Scholar
Dobson, A. (2006), Environmental Citizenship, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Dresner, S. and Ekins, P. (2006), ‘Economic instruments to improve UK home energy efficiency without negative social impacts’, Fiscal Studies, 27: 1, 47–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druckman, A. and Jackson, T. (2008), ‘Household energy consumption in the UK: a highly geographically and socio-economically disaggregated model’, Energy Policy, 36: 3177–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druckman, A. and Jackson, T. (2010), ‘The bare necessities: how much carbon do we really need?’, Ecological Economics, 69: 1794, 1804.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Environmental Audit Committee (2008), Personal Carbon Trading, 5th Report, London: House of Commons.Google Scholar
Environmental Tax Policy Institute and the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law (2008), ‘The reality of carbon taxes in the 21st century’, http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Documents/020309-carbonTaxPaper(0).pdf (accessed 11/06/2011).Google Scholar
Fagnani, J. and Letablier, M. (2004), ‘Work and family life balance: the impact of the 35-hour laws in France’, Work, Employment and Society, 18: 3, 551–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fahmy, E., Thumin, J. and White, V. (2011), The Distribution of UK Household CO2 Emissions, Interim report, JRF Programme Paper, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Fawcett, T. and Parag, Y. (2010), ‘An introduction to personal carbon trading’, Climate Policy, 10: 329–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzpatrick, T. (2011), ‘Introduction’, in Fitzpatrick, T. (ed.), Understanding the Environment and Social Policy, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Frank, R. (2011), The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gough, I. (2012), ‘Climate change, double injustice and social policy: a case study of the United Kingdom’, Occasional Papers on Green Economy and Sustainable Development Paper One, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Geneva.Google Scholar
Gough, I. (2011), ‘Climate change and public policy futures’, a report prepared for the British Academy, London.Google Scholar
Gough, I., Abdallah, S., Johnson, V., Ryan-Collins, J. and Smith, C. (2011), The Distribution of Total Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Households in the UK, and Some Implications for Social Policy, CASE Paper No. 152, London: Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics.Google Scholar
Gough, I. and Meadowcroft, J. (2011), ‘Decarbonising the welfare state’, in Dryzek, J. S., Norgaard, R. B. and Schlosberg, D. (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Helm, D. (2009), ‘Climate-change policy: why has so little been achieved?’, in Helm, D. and Hepburn, C. (eds.), The Economics and Politics of Climate Change, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 9–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helm, D. (2012), ‘The sustainable borders of the state’, Oxford Review of Political Economy, 27: 4, 517–35.Google Scholar
Hepburn, C. (2009), ‘Carbon taxes, emissions trading and hybrid schemes’, in Helm, D. and Hepburn, C. (eds.), The Economics and Politics of Climate Change, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 365–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hills, J. (2012), Getting the Measure of Fuel Poverty: Final Report of the Fuel Poverty Review, CASE Report 72, London: Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics.Google Scholar
House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee (2012), Consumption-Based Emissions Reporting, Volume 1, HC 1646, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) (2011), The Spending Patterns and Inflation Experience of Low-Income Households over the Past Decade, IFS Commentary C119, London: Institute for Fiscal Studies.Google Scholar
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007), Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change, Fourth Assessment Report, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jackson, T. and Papathansopoulou, E. (2008), ‘Luxury or Lock-in? An exploration of unsustainable consumption in the UK: 1968 to 2000’, Ecological Economics, 68: 80–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marden, S. and Gough, I. (2011), Fiscal Costs of Climate Mitigation Programmes in the UK: A Challenge For Social Policy? CASE Paper 145, London: Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics.Google Scholar
Nakano, S., Okamura, A., Sakurai, N., Suzuki, M., Tojo, Y. and Yamano, N. (2009), The Measurement of CO2 Embodiments in International Trade: Evidence from the Harmonised Input-Output and Bilateral Trade Database, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers, No. 3, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Nässen, J. and Larsson, J. (2011), ‘Would shorter work time reduce greenhouse gas emissions? An analysis of time use and consumption in Swedish households’, Mimeo, http://jorgenlarsson.nu/wp-content/uploads/Would-shorter-work-hours-reduce-greenhouse-gas-emissions-100326.pdf.Google Scholar
New Economics Foundation (Nef) (2010), 21 Hours: Why a Shorter Working Week Can Help Us All to Flourish in the 21st Century, www.neweconomics.org/publications/21-hours (accessed 11/06/2011).Google Scholar
New Economics Foundation (Nef) (2008), A Green New Deal, www.neweconomics.org/sites/neweconomics.org/files/A_Green_New_Deal_1.pdf (accessed 11/06/2011).Google Scholar
Organisation for Economic Development (OECD) (2010), Interim Report of the Green Growth Strategy: Implementing Our Commitment for a Sustainable Future, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Ofgem (UK Office of Gas and Electricity Markets) (2009), ‘Can Energy Charges Encourage Energy Efficiency?’, Ofgem discussion paper, www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/Documents1/Final%20discussion%20paper%2022%20July.pdf (accessed on 01/11/2011).Google Scholar
Ostrom, E. (2009), A Polycentric Approach for Coping with Climate Change, Policy research working paper 5095, World Bank.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papathansopoulou, E. and Jackson, T. (2009), ‘Measuring fossil resource inequality: a case study for the UK between 1968 and 2000’, Ecological Economics, 68: 1213–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, G. and Hertwich, E. (2008), ‘CO2 embodied in international trade with implications for global climate policy’, Environmental Science and Technology, 42: 5, 1401–07.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Power, A. and Zulauf, M. (2011), Cutting Carbon Costs: Learning from Germany's Energy Saving Program, Department of Housing and Communities, London: London School of Economics.Google Scholar
Pye, S., Skinner, I., Meyer-Ohlendorf, N., Leipprand, A., Lucas, K. and Salmons, R. (2008), Addressing the Social Dimensions of Environmental Policy, Unit E1 – Social and Demographic Analysis, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Brussels: European Commission.Google Scholar
Reed, H. and Lawson, N. (2011), Plan B: A Good Economy for a Good Society, London: Compass.Google Scholar
Romani, M., Stern, N. and Zenghalis, D. (2011), The Basic Economics of Low Carbon Growth in the UK, Grantham Policy Brief, June, London: London School of Economics.Google Scholar
Royal Academy of Engineering (2012), Heat: Degrees of Comfort? Options for Heating Homes in a Low Carbon Economy, London: The Royal Academy of Engineering.Google Scholar
Royal Society (2010), Climate Change: A Summary of the Science, http://royalsociety.org/climate-change-summary-of-science/ (accessed 11/06/2011).Google Scholar
Schor, J. (2012), ‘Working hours in the debate about growth and sustainability’, Paper presented to nef/CASE About Time colloquium, 12 January, London School of Economics, London.Google Scholar
Schröder, M., Ekins, P., Power, A., Zulauf, M. and Lowe, R. (2011), ‘The KfW experience in the reduction of energy use in, and CO2 emissions from, buildings: operations, impacts and lessons for the UK’, LSE Housing and Communities report: http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cp/KfWsummary.pdf.Google Scholar
Seyfang, G. and Paavola, J. (2008), ‘Inequality and sustainable consumption: bridging the gaps’, Local Environment, 13: 669–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stern Review Report (2007), The Economics of Climate Change, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stern, N. (2011), ‘The low-carbon industrial revolution’, lecture, 17 March, London School of Economics and Political Science.Google Scholar
Taylor-Gooby, P. (2011), ‘Squaring the public policy circle’, a report prepared for the British Academy, London.Google Scholar
Thaler, R. and Sunstein, C. (2008), Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness, New Haven, CA: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Thumin, J. and White, V. (2008), Distributional Impacts of Personal Carbon Trading, Bristol: Centre for Sustainable Energy.Google Scholar
Turner, K., Lenzen, M., Wiedmann, T. and Barrett, J. (2007), ‘Examining the global environmental impact of regional consumption activities − Part 1: a technical note on combining input–output and ecological footprint analysis’, Ecological Economics, 62: 1, 37–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UK Committee on Climate Change (2010), The Fourth Carbon Budget-Reducing Emissions through the 2020s, UK Committee on Climate Change.Google Scholar
UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) (2009), Global Green New Deal − A Policy Brief, www.slideshare.net/dabydeen/global-green-new-deal-policy-brief (accessed on 11 June 2011).Google Scholar
Vanhille, J. (2011), ‘Pathways for social-environmental housing policy’, Paper presented at Espanet conference, Valencia, September.Google Scholar
Tversky, A. and Kahnemann, D. (1974), ‘Judgement under uncertainty: heuristics and biases’, Science, New Series, 185: 1124–31.Google ScholarPubMed
Walker, G. (2012), Environmental Justice: Concepts, Evidence and Politics, Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, G. and Burningham, K. (2011), ‘Flood risk, inequality and environmental justice’, Critical Social Policy, 31: 216–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiedmann, T., Lenzen, M., Turner, K. and Barrett, J. (2007), ‘Examining the global environmental impact of regional consumption activities, Part 2: Review of input–output models for the assessment of environmental impacts embodied in trade’, Ecological Economics, 61: 1, 15–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitmarsh, L. (2011), ‘Social and psychological drivers of energy consumption behaviour and energy transitions’, in Dietz, S., Michie, J. and Oughton, C. (eds.), The Political Economy of the Environment: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 213–28.Google Scholar