CEEN 590 Course Review, Conclusion
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Should the program have a required course in policy/governance?
Should it be a course like this or something else?
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First half
Week 1 Course overviewWeek 2: Sustainable Energy as a
Social and Political ChallengeWeek 3: Formal Government
Processes – Week 4: Policy process, Actor
Dynamics Week 5: Policy Analysis in a Political
ContextWeek 6: Policy InstrumentsWeek 7: Midterm Exam + nuclear
power
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Second half
Week 8: Energy Planning and Approval Strategies
Week 9: Rest of CanadaWeek 10: Clean energy, international
trade, climate diplomacyWeek 11: The Two Giants: Energy
Policy in China and the USMarch 12: Simulated Multi-
stakeholder Consultation April 4: Synthesis, Reflection 4
What should be covered that we didn’t address?
Is there a need for more policy-relevant analytical methods?
5
What should be reduced or eliminated to make room for new stuff?
6
Assignments
Midterm
Simulation and paper – is acting like an advocate an important learning experience?
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pedagogy
8
Themes
Climate (clean energy) challenge compounded by temporal and spatial inconsistency
Motivated reasoning: people filter facts through the values/worldview – convincing people with factual reason when implications conflict with their values is a major challenge
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Themes
Authority: ability to make rules backed up by coercive power of the state Found in formal rules and procedures –
understanding them in a necessary step in influence
Who decides? At what level?Power/influence: ability to influence
outcomes More diverse sources
10
Themes
Fundamentals to analysis Problem definition Criteria Alternatives Consequences Trade-offs
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Themes
There are a variety of instruments available in clean energy policy, and they come with a different package of attributes and consequences
12
Themes
Nuclear power is low GHG but costly and comes with distinctive real and perceived risks
Project planning and approval is complex and there are frequently tradeoffs between quality and coherence on the one hand and political realities on the other
13
Themes
Different countries face different challenges because of different resource endowments policy legacies Political cultures Institutions
14
Themes
International trade rules constrain the use of certain policy instruments
Collective action dilemma in global diplomacy formidable
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Role of technology
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Concluding Theme 1
Sustainable energy requires that prices reflect their true environmental and social cost
Government action is required to internalize costs
Policy is made by politicians whose core interest is reelection, which discourages them from imposing costs
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Transition to clean energy is feasible and affordable
But…we are stuckRequires politicians to raise energy prices
Which is improbable without intense social pressure
Climate politics dilemmahttp://greenpolicyprof.org/wordpress/?p=271http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWq_b-hAJ_8&feature=youtube_gdata
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Energy system transformation:technically feasible and economic affordable
Confidence in one or both instruments to price carbon: Economy wide carbon tax Economy wide cap and trade
Supplementary policies Energy R&D Regulations to foster sector specific
change
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Mitigation measures would induce 0.6% gain to 3% decrease of GDP in 2030
Stabilisation levels
(ppm CO2-eq)
Range of GDP reduction (%)
445 - 535 < 3
535 - 590 0.2 – 2.5
590 - 710 -0.6 – 1.2
Costs of mitigation in 2030
Concluding Theme (2)
There is a profound tension between
the incentives of politicians to avoid imposing costs
andthe need to use government action to
increase prices
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Overcoming obstacles – 2 paths Politicians “lead” – move beyond electorate
Electorate creates incentives for politicians to act Organize Mobilize
Advocacy Alert! My Leap of Faith
Acting according to short term material interest won’t solve the problem
Act because it is the right thing to do
Tahrir Square, February 11, 2011
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