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Converging Agendas? Energy and Climate Change Policies in the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Heather Lovell

    (Centre for the Study of Environmental Change and Sustainability, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, Scotland)

  • Harriet Bulkeley

    (Department of Geography, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, England)

  • Susan Owens

    (Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge CB2 3EN, England)

Abstract

In the UK climate change and energy have converged on the policy agenda. We discuss the implications for theories of policy change based on well-defined networks located within single, discrete, policy domains. We suggest that such approaches struggle to account for the dynamics of change in conditions of policy convergence. The issue of climate change has opened up and destabilised the UK energy policy sector, but this process has been surprisingly free of conflict, despite radical policy shifts. To date, convergence of the energy and climate change sectors has largely occurred at a discursive level, and we focus our attention on a number of different, but largely complementary, storylines about solutions to climate change. We draw on ideas about sociotechnical regime transitions, first, to explore why the storylines are not in obvious conflict, and, second, to identify small-scale niches where tensions in storylines do emerge as discourse is translated into material reality.

Suggested Citation

  • Heather Lovell & Harriet Bulkeley & Susan Owens, 2009. "Converging Agendas? Energy and Climate Change Policies in the UK," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 27(1), pages 90-109, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:27:y:2009:i:1:p:90-109
    DOI: 10.1068/c0797j
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Adrian Smith, 2003. "Transforming technological regimes for sustainable development: A role for alternative technology niches?," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 30(2), pages 127-135, April.
    2. Sarah L. Mander, 2007. "Regional Renewable Energy Policy: A Process of Coalition Building," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 7(2), pages 45-63, May.
    3. Geoffrey Dudley & Jeremy Richardson, 1998. "Arenas without Rules and the Policy Change Process: Outsider Groups and British Roads Policy," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 46(4), pages 727-747, September.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Scrase, J. Ivan & Ockwell, David G., 2010. "The role of discourse and linguistic framing effects in sustaining high carbon energy policy--An accessible introduction," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2225-2233, May.
    3. Einsiedel, Edna F. & Boyd, Amanda D. & Medlock, Jennifer & Ashworth, Peta, 2013. "Assessing socio-technical mindsets: Public deliberations on carbon capture and storage in the context of energy sources and climate change," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 149-158.
    4. Isoaho, Karoliina & Karhunmaa, Kamilla, 2019. "A critical review of discursive approaches in energy transitions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 930-942.
    5. Sidan WANG, 2016. "Climate Change Discourses in the UK General Election in 2015," Chinese Journal of Urban and Environmental Studies (CJUES), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(01), pages 1-17, March.

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