Office for Environmental Programs - Theses
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ItemThe challenges of emissions trading in China( 2012)Under the 12`h Five-Year-Plan (FYP), China is moving forward to the implementation of pilot emissions trading scheme (ETS). This would be the first experiment of mandatory ETS in China and also an important sign on the evolution of the climate policy for China. Voluntary emissions trading practices based around Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Voluntary Emissions Reductions (VERs) have existed in China in recent years. By contrast, the upcoming pilot ETSs in China will be mandatory for covered sectors and installations. This research compares the EU ETS and the CCX with the China's proposed mandatory pilot ETSs and existing voluntary ETS respectively. Then, challenges that China's ETS may face can be suggested based on the key criteria come up from the EU ETS and the CCX. The challenges of China's ETS can be found in the respects of the establishment of regulatory contexts, cap setting-up and allowances allocation, designing and implementation of a compliance framework, and establishment and operation of diverse trading mechanisms. When comes to the co-operation and linkage among proposed Chinese pilot ETSs and a future national ETS in China, two most possible scenarios are discussed in the thesis. The first potential scenario is that the national ETS replaces pilot ETSs. The second potential scenario is that pilots are linked directly and then to expand as the national ETS. On the other hand, the potential linkage between China's ETS and the EU ETS can be expected, especially as the European Commission announced that the EU would assist China in establishing the national ETS according to an agreement signed by the EU and China in September 2012. However, there will be several issues existing in the establishment of a linkage. Whether those two ETSs are compatible and the allowances are recognised by each other are the key elements of the potential linkage building between the EU ETS and the future national ETS in China.
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ItemSmarter ways to change: learning from innovative practice in road space reallocation( 2013)With an increasing focus on creating more compact, sustainable and liveable cites, the use of one particular part of our cities is being rethought - the use of roads. The dominance of cars for much of the last century has fixed attitudes and practices around road space use and management. It is likely therefore that policies seeking to reallocate road space to new, more sustainable and liveable uses will face barriers. Innovation is therefore not only required in thinking about how we use roads, but also about the processes by which changes to road space use are implemented. The current research examines five case studies which temporarily change the use of roads, and analyses the ways in which the use of temporary projects provides an innovative process to implement reallocation of to road space to new uses. The research findings reveal a number of innovative features of the process of change associated with using temporary projects. By nature, temporary projects create a test environment for new road uses. This enables greater risk-taking, as the change is not 'locked in'. It is argued that these conditions alter attitudes to proposed change, making the community, planners and politicians less apprehensive and open to exploring possibilities. Interestingly, this experimental and less risky environment allows new players to contribute to changing the use of roads: the community, including businesses, and also people from non-transport disciplines, such as urban designers and architects. Allowing for involvement of new contributors fosters innovation; new ideas are born as new viewpoints are brought to bear on changing the use of roads. Inherent in taking a 'temporary' approach is seeing if a change to road use actually works and finding out what the community thinks about it. This supports improved community engagement as well as stronger participation in government decision-making and active involvement with urban change. Designs made of temporary materials enhance flexibility and responsiveness, as designs can be tweaked in response to feedback and monitoring. In addition, interviewees experimenting with this approach describe a number of unanticipated advantages for government related to the process. These findings should spark more debate, research and experimentation with 'temporary' processes
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ItemAssessing perceptions pertaining to the vulnerability of marginalized groups and the potential policy implications for flood management in Pakistan( 2013)The present study assesses the perceptions of decision makers pertaining to the vulnerability of a particular marginalised group to floods in Pakistan, with potential policy implications in terms of adapting policy to meet the needs of `women small farmers'. The key research question is: How do decision makers in district Badin, and within the Pakistani federal government, interpret the vulnerability of women small farmers? The respondents or the decision makers here refer to practitioners at district level such as the relevant district disaster management authority, district agricultural extension department, representatives from organisations working on women issues, representatives of farmer groups, women political leaders, and relevant non-governmental organisations. The research also includes the policy makers at federal level, including National Disaster Management Authority, Ministry of Climate Change, Federal Flood Commission and Ministry of National Food Security. For the focus of this research, perceptions of decision makers were studied in relation to the particular marginalised group of women small farmers. I used a political ecology framework to develop an understanding of marginalisation amongst this group, as perceived by the decision makers. A case study methodology was used to explore the perceptions of the respondents regarding marginalised groups, especially women small farmers. An in-depth interview method was chosen for the research and interviews were conducted in two stages. During stage I, the decision makers from district of Badin were interviewed over the telephone. Stage II was a more focused stage, which included face-to-face interviews of policy makers at the federal scale. The research demonstrates that women in general, as well as women small farmers specifically, are vulnerable even in the normal situations due to socio-cultural and economic factors, which favour men; this appears due to a prevailing patriarchal system. Disasters like floods make these vulnerabilities more explicit and make women small farmers physically, socio-culturally, and institutionally vulnerable to floods. The research is an important contribution towards the decision-making literature because of the emphasis on how decision makers perceive women small farmers' vulnerability and how their perceptions inform responses before, during and after floods in Pakistan.
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ItemThe role of Mexico in the global environmental agenda: a discussion of the leadership framework( 2012)This study discusses the idea of Mexico's participation in the global environmental agenda under the framework of leadership. Therefore in this paper a short historical review of the Country's incremental participation in multilateral Forums, as well as domestic institutional arrangements to align with the international agreement to mitigate and adapt to climate change is reviewed. The conceptual basis of leadership will help to analyse if the role that Mexico has been playing in the last two decades has positioned as a leader of 'other' emergent economies In 2010 the country hosted the 16th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention in Climate Change. This paper discusses how the country displayed great diplomacy skills as it used unconventional methods to facilitate the negotiations in order to reach the Cancun Agreement. Also, at the domestic level Mexico has decided to implement 'stronger' polices to face climate change, while promoting international co-operation for developing countries in terms of mitigation and adaptation. Under this frame it seems like Mexico stopped being a laggard and is becoming a climate change leader. Is this true?
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ItemOcean acidification: the puzzle of an absent issue( 2012)Ocean acidification is predicted to have significant impacts on marine species and ecosystems, with subsequent consequences for human societies. The scientific narrative frames this phenomenon as a significant problem, requiring the intervention of government policy. However, the issue does not appear to occupy a prominent position on policy agendas in Australia. This thesis examines this puzzle, with an aim to understand why the issue has not gained more prominence. To achieve this aim, this research draws on insights provided by the conceptualisation of the issue networks that exists around ocean acidification; analysis and evaluation of the social construction of the phenomenon as a 'problem'; the identification and reconstruction of evident discourses that have emerged around this issue; and evaluating influences on the position of ocean acidification on Australian policy agendas. This thesis shows that the failure of ocean acidification to obtain prominence on policy agendas in Australia is due to the interaction of a range of factors. It finds that lack of engagement by groups of actors who ought to be concerned by the issue, the absence of a 'populariser' to communicate the complex science to a wider audience and generate public awareness and concern, and the failure to adopt a coherent, concise story line, are all likely influences on the issue's agenda position. The dynamics uncovered through this research raise important questions about environmental policy-making processes in Australia, and the role of expert knowledge in informing governments
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ItemThe stirring giant?: Local government and greenhouse mitigation in Victoria( 2014)Local government in Australia is acknowledged as having the potential to influence over fifty per cent of Australia's greenhouse emissions, through transport, infrastructure development, waste management, land use change and the community's energy use. However few studies have sought to examine the effectiveness of this sector's mitigation efforts and activities. This thesis examines the Victorian local government sector's shared and individual efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions and considers the effectiveness of that sector's policies and activities. It uses survey and interview data, as well as an extensive literature review to explore the potential for mitigation measures by Local government in Victoria, and assess current practice against this potential. This thesis finds that the greatest potential capabilities for mitigation by Local government in Victoria exist in three domains for action - planning control, technological implementation, and behavioural education. Those potential mitigation capabilities have been realised in practice through acting on their own corporate emissions, implemented large-scale mitigation technologies in partnership, and responding to charges imposed upon them by State and Commonwealth government policies and regulations. In some cases advocacy has been necessary from the bottom up internally, in other sectors as with advocacy for the consideration of environmental sustainability at the planning stage rather than the building stage, it has culminated in a united effort across many councils to strategically influence the State government. Individual Victorian councils have benefited from the snowball effects of mitigation activity at this level of government, including emissions target setting, programs such as the bulk buy networks, streetlighting changeovers, environmentally sustainable design, energy foundations and recycling, and high participation in alliances and partnerships. Thus Victorian Local government mitigation action is far from "a stiff smile to be painted on the wreckage of grander visions..." (Victor, House & Joy 2005, p. 1820). However the research finds that this mitigation action is uneven across Victorian Local government. There are a few cases of reflexive innovation and action to implement mitigation policy to full capability, but in many areas councils display a general ambivalence toward action despite solutions and multiple benefits being within their reach. Mitigation efforts in the majority of Victorian councils remain focused inward - seeking organisational and economic benefits for councils themselves - rather than outwardly oriented to their communities. Victorian Local government is not resourcing innovative integrated approaches across the full range of its potential capabilities. Its mitigation endeavours are also poorly aligned with the deeper social dimensions of consumption, emissions and climate change, with weak enthusiasm for innovative long-term householder emissions mitigation projects leading to some 60% of councils relying entirely on their corporate web sites to communicate the value and means of greenhouse mitigation. Local government in Victoria is yet to fully engage with the digital environment and the use of contemporary, participatory tactics to reach local communities similar to those succeeding internationally. Given the capability of Victorian Local government to shape and implement greenhouse mitigation policy, there remain significant opportunities for this sector to enhance emissions mitigation by combining online digital assets and its authority and resources to assist local communities to access and build climate change mitigation knowledge and action.
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ItemClimate change mitigation in Singapore: challenges and opportunities( 2013)As greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase world-wide, the possibility of the occurrence of catastrophic climatic changes increases, and the need for countries to implement mitigation measures becomes increasingly important. When it comes to implementing measures to tackle these rising levels of greenhouse gas emissions, each country is faced with their own set of challenges and constrains. As a densely populated city-state with a lack of natural resources, high economic activity and limited land area, Singapore is faced with a range of challenges with regards to climate change mitigation. Despite these limitations, there are also opportunities and capabilities that the country can tap on, such as the technological expertise and a skilled workforce, and these can potentially help Singapore to overcome the challenges. As the economy continues to expand and the population continues to grow, Singapore has to consider environmental policy options that will not just reduce the emission intensity but will also result in a progressive decrease in the annual carbon emissions. Therefore, this paper will propose possible environmental policy options that has the potential to reduce emissions and is suitable to be implemented in Singapore to help her achieve her national reduction targets. This research will take on a qualitative-based approach to assess five selected environmental policy options - Renewable Energy Target, Feed-in Tariffs, Carbon Tax, Electricity Vending System and Energy Labelling Schemes. It will firstly demonstrate how the liberalisation of the electricity market, despite being an economically-driven political decision, has indirectly led to positive environmental changes, such as the increased contribution of natural gas in the country's fuel mix, which has reduced the annual increase in domestic emissions. Most importantly, this restructuring has provided a platform, which is able to promote the interaction with environmental policies that may impact on electricity prices and potentially influence changes to bring about emission reduction in the country. As Australia has a similar wholesale market and since some of the policy options that will be studied, interacts with this functioning market, similar policies in Australia will be used as a guideline in the discussion of this paper. Each environmental policy option will be analysed and evaluated based on their potential effectiveness to encourage emission reduction in the country. It is observed that with advantages in being a financial and clean technology hub, as well as having a skilled workforce, the promotion of investments in renewable energy has the potential to bring about emission reduction in the country. Furthermore, developing feedback mechanisms have been discerned to be important factors that have the capabilities to influence environmentally-conscious behaviours and potentially contribute to the efforts to reduce emissions in Singapore. Therefore, these suggest that a combination of the Renewable Energy Target, Electricity Vending System and Energy Labelling schemes is most likely to potentially achieve large-scale emission reduction for Singapore.
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ItemSocial carbon budgeting: voluntary targets for achieving a low-emissions lifestyle( 2013)It is now widely accepted that anthropogenic climate change is likely to reach dangerous levels in the absence of national and international policies that would see the dramatic reduction in human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. The likely outcome of this lack of policy is of a world that is not only significantly warmer that it is today but also significantly different in the make-up of the terrestrial biosphere. Current scientific analysis suggests that any changes to the global climate exceeding 2-degrees of warming poses potentially irrevocable changes to the global environment. Although it has been suggested that 2-degrees of warming may not actually constitute 'safe' levels of global warming, the international consensus appears to have settled on the goal of no more than a 2-degree world. Of all the developed countries in the world, the adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change will affect Australia the greatest. Two issues that currently exist within Australian climate policy that is focused on addressing these issues are a) the insufficient abatement of emissions through the current national policy framework (Clean Energy Legislation) and b) disengagement with the general population on both the realities of anthropogenic climate change and the positive role the public can play in the mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. The policy tool that is suggested for addressing these problems is Social Carbon Budgeting, a voluntary-participation model utilizing the existing ideas of Personal Carbon Budgeting and Personal Carbon Trading. Social Carbon Budgeting (or SCB) encourages individuals to monitor and assess their daily greenhouse gas (CO2e) emissions from their consumption of goods and services and reduce these emissions in-line with daily targets that reflect a 'safe' emissions level. The daily target is based on an Equal per Capita approach for the entire globe, updated yearly in accordance with changes in global population. The conclusion is that Social Carbon Budgeting provides an opportunity to address the deficiencies that currently exist in the national climate policy framework and for engaging with individuals on the need to respond to anthropogenic climate change, and for the significant role individuals can play in reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.