Measuring the Impact of Public-Private Governance for Climate Change

A special issue of Climate (ISSN 2225-1154).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2016) | Viewed by 28091

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Vanderbilt Institute for Energy & Environment, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
Interests: renewable energy; electric vehicles; technology and society; energy policy; sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

By all accounts, the top-down governance approach to dealing with climate change (i.e. nation-states negotiating an international treaty) has been a failure to date.  This does not mean, however, that other forms of governance—involving public, private, and non-governmental actors—have been abandoned.  Indeed, what might be termed “bottom-up” governance to address climate change appears to be thriving.

While it is relatively easy to list and characterize the multitude of efforts now underway, it is imperative that we begin to assess their impact and effectiveness.  This special issue is devoted to highlighting articles that seek to measure the impact of individual or multiple governance initiatives, involving public, private, and non-governmental actors (and combinations thereof).  No a priori method for assessing effectiveness is implied.  If the claim, for example, is that we are establishing a societal norm through certain activities, questions must be asked, how do we know it and how do we measure it?  Are there ripple effects from individual initiatives that can be traced and measured?  Are the impacts from one sector, for example, transferring to another sector, and what are the mechanisms for such transfers?  Clearly, it is time to step back from the dazzle of burgeoning governance structures and begin to assess what they mean.

Dr. Jack Barkenbus
Guest Editor

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Climate is an international peer-reviewed Open Access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript.

The Article Processing Charge (APC) for this special issue will be waived for well-prepared manuscripts. English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

Keywords

  • climate governance
  • public-private governance
  • partnerships
  • civil regulation
  • transnational governance
  • collaborative governance
  • private governance
  • private sustainability governance
  • “bottom-up governance”
  • global carbon governance

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Other

2383 KiB  
Article
Initiatives towards Carbon Neutrality in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area
by Karna Dahal and Jari Niemelä
Climate 2016, 4(3), 36; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli4030036 - 18 Jul 2016
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 7199
Abstract
Carbon neutrality represents one climate strategy adopted by many cities, including the city of Helsinki and the Helsinki metropolitan area in Finland. This study examines initiatives adopted by the Helsinki metropolitan area aimed at reducing energy-related carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality through [...] Read more.
Carbon neutrality represents one climate strategy adopted by many cities, including the city of Helsinki and the Helsinki metropolitan area in Finland. This study examines initiatives adopted by the Helsinki metropolitan area aimed at reducing energy-related carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality through future actions. Various sectorial energy consumption rates per year and carbon emissions from various sectors within the city of Helsinki and the metropolitan area were extracted from an online database and re-calculated (in GWh, MWh/inhabitant and MtCO2e, KtCO2e/inhabitant). We employed a backcasting scenario method to explore the various carbon reduction measures in the Helsinki metropolitan area. About 96% of the emissions produced in the Helsinki metropolitan area are energy-based. District heating represents the primary source of emissions, followed by transportation and electricity consumption, respectively. We also found that accomplishing the carbon reduction strategies of the Helsinki metropolitan area by 2050 remains challenging. Technological advancement for clean and renewable energy sources, smart policies and raising awareness resulting in behavioral changes greatly affect carbon reduction actions. Thus, strong political commitments are also required to formulate and implement stringent climate actions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measuring the Impact of Public-Private Governance for Climate Change)
Show Figures

Figure 1

263 KiB  
Article
Public Perception of Climate Change in a Period of Economic Crisis
by Dimitrios Papoulis, Dimitra Kaika, Christina Bampatsou and Efthimios Zervas
Climate 2015, 3(3), 715-726; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli3030715 - 28 Aug 2015
Cited by 40 | Viewed by 7563
Abstract
The present study surveys the opinion of the residents of the Athens area in Greece on a wide range of issues related to climate change, such as their environmental consciousness and awareness and their willingness to take action against climate change. This study [...] Read more.
The present study surveys the opinion of the residents of the Athens area in Greece on a wide range of issues related to climate change, such as their environmental consciousness and awareness and their willingness to take action against climate change. This study is performed at a time of a severe economic crisis in Greece. Based on a questionnaire, this study examines the general trends reported on various environmental issues, more particularly concerning climate change. The main results are that Greek citizens are aware of the problems of environmental and of climate change and also believe that the environmental quality of Greece is quite poor. They believe they are fairly well informed about climate change. However, the current economic crisis in Greece has reversed the progress made in the past concerning the awareness of climate change. Also, the citizens have very low confidence in the public authorities and the big enterprises to deal with climate change, while they have high level of trust in scientific and environmental organizations. They agree with public actions, but are against individual actions to protect the environment as they consider the main stakeholders (state, industry) to be mainly responsible for environmental degradation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measuring the Impact of Public-Private Governance for Climate Change)

Other

Jump to: Research

198 KiB  
Comment
Implementing Local Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Actions: The Role of Various Policy Instruments in a Multi-Level Governance Context
by E. Carina H. Keskitalo, Sirkku Juhola, Nina Baron, Håkon Fyhn and Johannes Klein
Climate 2016, 4(1), 7; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli4010007 - 29 Jan 2016
Cited by 44 | Viewed by 12514
Abstract
Recently, considerable focus, e.g., in the fifth IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Assessment Report (2014) has been trained on why adaptation and mitigation have not been developed more than at present, with relatively few local government actions taken compared with, for example, [...] Read more.
Recently, considerable focus, e.g., in the fifth IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Assessment Report (2014) has been trained on why adaptation and mitigation have not been developed more than at present, with relatively few local government actions taken compared with, for example, more discursive policy agreement on the importance of the issue of climate change. Going beyond a focus on general limits and barriers, this comment suggests that one important issue is that climate change has not yet been sufficiently integrated into the state regulative structure of legislation and policy-making. A comparison between three cases suggests that local developments that are not supported in particular by binding regulation are unlikely to achieve the same general level of implementation as issues for which such regulative demands (and thereby also requirements for prioritization) exist. This constitutes an important consideration for the development of adaptation and mitigation as policy areas, including on the local level. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measuring the Impact of Public-Private Governance for Climate Change)
Back to TopTop