IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/tcpoxx/v10y2010i6p615-621.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How to eat an elephant: a bottom-up approach to climate policy

Author

Listed:
  • STEVE RAYNER

Abstract

A longstanding, alternative approach is offered to the existing UNFCCC international policy regime as a viable policy option. This 'bottom-up' approach has been neglected in policy discourse until now. The alternative approach is a 'clumsy' proposal, which emphasizes the 'direction of travel' over targets and timetables. It places an immediate emphasis on adaptation and the development of effective measures to minimize global warming through a diverse range of policy actions, originating from the 'bottom up' within nations, based on their own institutional, technological, economic and political capacities. Cumulatively, this would lead to a fundamental technological shift in global patterns of energy and land use. It would also encourage practical cooperation among the large emitters to control greenhouse gases and support the formation of regional collaborations on adaptation. Climate change is framed as a strategic challenge rather than an optimizing problem for analysts and policy-makers. Hence, policy is no longer obsessed with issues of leakage and concerns about free-riders, but greater explicit recognition is given to the fact that development is inevitably uneven and that different actors have very different motivations for action and capabilities to contribute to the climate change challenge.

Suggested Citation

  • Steve Rayner, 2010. "How to eat an elephant: a bottom-up approach to climate policy," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(6), pages 615-621, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:tcpoxx:v:10:y:2010:i:6:p:615-621
    DOI: 10.3763/cpol.2010.0138
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.3763/cpol.2010.0138
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.3763/cpol.2010.0138?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan Corfee-Morlot & Lamia Kamal-Chaoui & Michael G. Donovan & Ian Cochran & Alexis Robert & Pierre-Jonathan Teasdale, 2009. "Cities, Climate Change and Multilevel Governance," OECD Environment Working Papers 14, OECD Publishing.
    2. Prins, Gwyn & Galiana, Isabel & Green, Christopher & Grundmann, Reiner & Korhola, Atte & Laird, Frank & Nordhaus, Ted & Pielke Jnr, Roger & Rayner, Steve & Sarewitz, Daniel & Shellenberger, Michael & , 2010. "The Hartwell Paper: a new direction for climate policy after the crash of 2009," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 27939, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Antonio Ledda & Elisabetta Anna Di Cesare & Giovanni Satta & Gianluca Cocco & Giovanna Calia & Filippo Arras & Annalisa Congiu & Emanuela Manca & Andrea De Montis, 2020. "Adaptation to Climate Change and Regional Planning: A Scrutiny of Sectoral Instruments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-15, May.
    2. Aviel Verbruggen, 2011. "A Turbo Drive for the Global Reduction of Energy-Related CO 2 Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Winfried Osthorst, 2020. "Tensions in Urban Transitions. Conceptualizing Conflicts in Local Climate Policy Arrangements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Antonio Ledda & Marta Kubacka & Giovanna Calia & Sylwia Bródka & Vittorio Serra & Andrea De Montis, 2023. "Italy vs. Poland: A Comparative Analysis of Regional Planning System Attitudes toward Adaptation to Climate Changes and Green Infrastructures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-18, January.
    5. Janthana Kunchornrat & Aumnad Phdungsilp, 2012. "Multi-Level Governance of Low-Carbon Energy Systems in Thailand," Energies, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-14, February.
    6. Helen Pallett & Jason Chilvers, 2013. "A Decade of Learning about Publics, Participation, and Climate Change: Institutionalising Reflexivity?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(5), pages 1162-1183, May.
    7. Fouad Khan & Benjamin K. Sovacool, 2016. "Testing the efficacy of voluntary urban greenhouse gas emissions inventories," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 141-154, November.
    8. Nicholas Stern & James Rydge, 2012. "The New Energy-industrial Revolution and International Agreement on Climate Change," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    9. Ferenc Jankó & Áron Drüszler & Borbála Gálos & Norbert Móricz & Judit Papp-Vancsó & Ildikó Pieczka & Rita Pongrácz & Ervin Rasztovits & Zsuzsanna Soósné Dezső & Orsolya Szabó, 2020. "Sources of doubt: actors, forums, and language of climate change skepticism," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 124(3), pages 2251-2277, September.
    10. Azevedo, Isabel & Delarue, Erik & Meeus, Leonardo, 2013. "Mobilizing cities towards a low-carbon future: Tambourines, carrots and sticks," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 894-900.
    11. Eleanor Stephenson & Karena Shaw, 2013. "¨ A Dilemma of Abundance: Governance Challenges of Reconciling Shale Gas Development and Climate Change Mitigation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(5), pages 1-23, May.
    12. Jennifer S. Bansard & Philipp H. Pattberg & Oscar Widerberg, 2017. "Cities to the rescue? Assessing the performance of transnational municipal networks in global climate governance," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 229-246, April.
    13. Brennan Vogel & Daniel Henstra & Gordon McBean, 2020. "Sub-national government efforts to activate and motivate local climate change adaptation: Nova Scotia, Canada," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 1633-1653, February.
    14. Paul Chatterton, 2013. "Towards an Agenda for Post-carbon Cities: Lessons from Lilac, the UK's First Ecological, Affordable Cohousing Community," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 1654-1674, September.
    15. David Tremblay & Sabine Gowsy & Olivier Riffon & Jean-François Boucher & Samuel Dubé & Claude Villeneuve, 2021. "A Systemic Approach for Sustainability Implementation Planning at the Local Level by SDG Target Prioritization: The Case of Quebec City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-20, February.
    16. Azevedo, Isabel & Horta, Isabel & Leal, Vítor M.S., 2017. "Analysis of the relationship between local climate change mitigation actions and greenhouse gas emissions – Empirical insights," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 204-213.
    17. Jun Li, 2011. "Supporting greenhouse gas mitigation in developing cities: a synthesis of financial instruments," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 16(6), pages 677-698, August.
    18. Laura Silvia Valente Macedo & Pedro Roberto Jacobi, 2019. "Subnational politics of the urban age: evidence from Brazil on integrating global climate goals in the municipal agenda," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-15, December.
    19. René Ulloa-Espíndola & Jenny Cuyo-Cuyo & Elisa Lalama-Noboa, 2023. "Towards Rural Resilience: Assessing Future Spatial Urban Expansion and Population Growth in Quito as a Measure of Resilience," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-30, January.
    20. Francesca Pirlone & Ilenia Spadaro & Selena Candia, 2020. "More Resilient Cities to Face Higher Risks. The Case of Genoa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-21, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:tcpoxx:v:10:y:2010:i:6:p:615-621. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/tcpo20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.