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4 - Burden sharing: distributing burdens orsharing efforts?
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- By Constanze Haug, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Andrew Jordan, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
- Edited by Andrew Jordan, University of East Anglia, Dave Huitema, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Harro van Asselt, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Tim Rayner, University of East Anglia, Frans Berkhout, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
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- Book:
- Climate Change Policy in the European Union
- Published online:
- 05 August 2011
- Print publication:
- 29 April 2010, pp 83-102
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Summary
Introduction
The principle of burden sharing goes to the very core of climate policy in the EU. Burden sharing – or what Sbragia (2000: 315) terms ‘pollution federalism’ – is one feature of governance that differentiates the EU from other supranational bodies. This chapter focuses on the dilemmas that arise when emission reduction targets are assigned to Member States by governors operating at EU level. The question of how to strike a balance between stimulating emission abatement where it is most cost-effective while satisfying one of the EU's principal norms, namely social and economic cohesion (see Chapter 2), has preoccupied governors since the 1980s. The accession of ten relatively poor new Member States in 2004 has made it even more salient. Lacasta et al. (2007: 218) have argued that, by altering the balance between richer and poorer states, this enlargement has made the EU even more of ‘a testing ground’ for transferable policy ideas and principles.
Burden sharing has proven to be immensely difficult to govern. Over the past two decades, the EU has had not one, but several attempts at developing a durable burden sharing arrangement. The first dates back to 1991/1992 and failed miserably. The second attempt, in 1996/1997, produced an agreement prior to the Kyoto COP, but had to be readjusted a year later (see Chapter 3). The issue of burden sharing reared its head a third time in 2007/2008, when the Commission began to prepare its 20–20–20 package.
11 - Governance choices and dilemmas in a warmer Europe: what does the future hold?
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- By Johannes Stripple, Lund University, Sweden, Tim Rayner, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom, Roger Hildingsson, Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS), Andrew Jordan, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom, Constanze Haug, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Edited by Andrew Jordan, University of East Anglia, Dave Huitema, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Harro van Asselt, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Tim Rayner, University of East Anglia, Frans Berkhout, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
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- Book:
- Climate Change Policy in the European Union
- Published online:
- 05 August 2011
- Print publication:
- 29 April 2010, pp 229-250
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Summary
Introduction
Since 1996, EU climate policy has subscribed to the overall objective of ensuring that global average temperatures do not exceed 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Achieving this target will require fundamental shifts in European and global energy systems. The EU's 2008 climate–energy package, which set out a 20% emissions reduction target by 2020, was a significant step forward in political commitment, but still fell well short of the IPCC's recommendation (Pachauri and Reisinger 2007) of a 25–40% cut by industrialised countries by 2020. The European Council has, since 2007, also been committed in principle to a reduction in collective emissions from industrialised countries by 60–80% by 2050 – a figure broadly commensurate with the IPCC's advice (see Chapter 3).
What stands out about all these goals is that they deal with what many of today's governors would consider to be the very long-term future, although in scientific terms is not. Given that climate policy is such a long-term undertaking, there is a need to understand whether these and other policies are likely to be robust over these timescales; in other words, capable of performing well under a range of different conditions.
The general aim of this chapter is to explore how EU climate policy might evolve in the period from 2020 to 2040 given a set of different policy contexts. In effect, we reverse the emphasis on historical developments of Parts II and III, and examine how policy might unfold in the future.
10 - Exploring the future: the role of scenarios and policy exercises
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- By Frans Berkhout, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Constanze Haug, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Roger Hildingsson, Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS), Johannes Stripple, und University, Sweden, Andrew Jordan, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
- Edited by Andrew Jordan, University of East Anglia, Dave Huitema, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Harro van Asselt, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Tim Rayner, University of East Anglia, Frans Berkhout, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
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- Book:
- Climate Change Policy in the European Union
- Published online:
- 05 August 2011
- Print publication:
- 29 April 2010, pp 213-228
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Summary
Introduction
Policy exists to encourage social and environmental change now and into the future. It makes a promise about the future and, by doing so, seeks to align target groups to its goals and means. A fundamental problem in governing any policy problem is that both the governors and the target groups change their preferences over time. Another is that the prevailing system of governance does not remain stable either; it changes over time, partly as a result of the impact of policies, partly as a result of unexpected outcomes and unintended consequences from earlier policies, and partly because of exogenous changes that have nothing to do with the policy in question. As all these things continually change, so does the nature of the choices and dilemmas which confront governors when they pursue new policies and implement old ones.
In looking forward to the future of climate policy, we need to account for changes in the governance system – in our case the EU – and how these may influence the evolution of policies, their impact, effectiveness and legitimacy. But since we are focusing on the longer term (in this and the following chapter, we are mostly dealing with the period 2020–40), we need to go further still. We need to consider the possibility that governance systems will be significantly different from those prevailing today.