• Energy Research

Transformation is complex and multi-level governance the admittance of this fact. Our paper presents the lessons learnt from a number of projects, which were / are meant to foster fruitful dialogue and transformative learning among a variety of actors. The projects are united by local climate action as the chosen political arena, our assumption that a level playing field or ‘middle ground’ is needed, and questions such as: How to build effective coordination structures between horizontal and vertical lines? How to facilitate common but differentiated learning? And how to measure and monitor the ‘fruitfulness’ of such dialogue? In trying to answer these questions we draw on applied research from transformative governance projects in Europe, Asia and Africa. One example given is the V-LED project, which will – in the context of the post 2015 agenda, the implementation of the Sendai Framework of Action, the adoption of the SDGs, and ‘après Paris’ – promote platforms for exchange on local climate action in four countries with very different political systems: communist Vietnam, post-apartheid South Africa, Kenya and the Philippines. Our research aims at understanding the coordination mechanisms that may lead to the emergence of dialogue, learning and eventually climate action in multi- level governance systems.

El tutor de la tesis es Julián Garrido Segovia No existe un 'Planeta B'. Hace décadas que diversos factores tanto naturales como antropogénicos hacen inviable la persistencia del sistema tierra a largo plazo tal y como lo conocemos. El calentamiento global y sus efectos , lo que conocemos como cambio climático, es un hecho demostrado que urge a las naciones, los gobiernos de todo tipo y a la sociedad civil a tomar medidas. Porque la amenaza climática no solo pone en peligro el medio ambiente y los recursos naturales, es una amenaza que afecta directamente a las sociedades, su equilibrio y seguridad. Los paneles intergubernamentales de expertos concuerdan que la acción local climática es fundamental en los esfuerzos globales para mitigar y adaptarse a los efectos del cambio climático. Esta Tesis evalúa en profundidad la acción local climática en materia de mitigación y adaptación en Europa. Así, dentro del marco de una de las iniciativas mas importante en la materia, y en base a los únicos y primeros datos de monitorización existentes, se evalúan de manera cuantitativa así como cualitativa los factores que han determinado la eficiencia y eficacia de las acciones destinadas a mitigar y adaptarse a los efectos del cambio climático. Así, el primero de los cuatro artículos desarrollados y publicados durante mis años de doctorado que conforman esta Tesis analiza los factores que han determinado la eficiencia en el seguimiento de la implementación de medidas de mitigación del cambio climático en ciudades de Europa. Una vez identificados los factores que han facilitado o impedido a las ciudades adheridas a la iniciativa el implementar y monitorizar las medidas locales de acción climática proyectadas, el segundo articulo cuantifica los resultados reales obtenidos por las ciudades en sus territorios. Una vez evaluadas la eficiencia y eficacia de la acción local climática en Europa en el periodo 2008-2020, se ha procedido a estudiar la relevancia, sostenibilidad e impacto de estas acciones, estudiando primero el nivel de ambición de las ciudades europeas para el siguiente periodo de actuación climática local (2020-2030) , cuyos resultados viene descritos en el tercer articulo de esta Tesis. 24 Por ultimo y dado que en 2015 se incluyo en la iniciativa el pilar de adaptación contra el cambio climático, el cuarto articulo evalúa los principales factores y características de los planes de acción en la materia . Como se describe a continuación, veremos que estos 4 artículos dan un enfoque global o análisis ex post de la primera experiencia en materia de acción climática monitorizada de manera armonizada en Europa, evaluando los principales factores que han determinado el éxito o fracaso de los resultados e indicando el camino a tomar en la lucha local frente al cambio climático en el siguiente periodo de actuación con objetivos para el 2030. There is no 'Planet B'. Natural but mainly anthropogenic factors make it impossible to maintain in the long term the current earth system. Climate change is a demonstrated fact that urges governments of all kinds as well as civil society to take action; because the climatic threat is not only damaging the environment and the natural resources, is directly threatening society's equilibrium, and security. International governmental panels agree on the need of putting local climate action at the core of the efforts towards mitigating and adapting to climate change. This Thesis develops a deep evaluation of the local climate actions in Europe. In the frame of the European mainstream movement on the topic, and analyzing the first and unique monitoring harmonized database, it evaluates quantitatively and qualitatively the main factors and barriers explaining the effectiveness and the efficiency of the local actions developed in the period 2008-2020. The first of the four publications developed and published during my doctorate years, and that frames this Thesis, analyzes the drivers and barriers explaining the effectiveness of the implementation of concrete climate change mitigation actions by local authorities (LAs) in Europe for that period. After having identified the factors enabling or preventing LAs under the local climate initiative to implement and monitor the local climate actions developed, the second publication of this Thesis quantifies the real mitigation achievements in terms of Greenhouse gasses (GHG) reduction in their territories-i.e., the efficiency of the climate action. Once the effectiveness and efficiency of the local climate action of LAs in Europe were analyzed, the objective was to evaluate the relevance, sustainability and impact of the initiative conducted. That for, in the first place the level of ambition in terms of the GHG reduction target for 2030 established by the LAs was evaluated and the achieved results were described in the third publication of this thesis. Finally the fourth publication moves from mitigation action to adaptation to climate change, evaluating and extracting the main factors describing the local climate action in Europe in the matter. As described in the following sections, these four publications give, for the first time, a comprehensive understanding of the major European local climate action initiative, the only one monitored in a harmonized manner. This thesis analyzes and describe the main attributes leading European LAs to the success or failure of their climate plans and would be of extreme interest for the local climate action in the next period toward 2030 objectives. Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias y Tecnologías Industriales (RD 99/2011) Industria Zientzietako eta Teknologietako Doktoretza Programa (ED 99/2011)

open access article Cities are increasingly adopting potentially sustainable climate plans. Integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into these plans could help stabilize the climate while generating jobs, narrowing equity gaps, fostering innovation, and delivering other sustainability benefits. Yet, how much cities are integrating the SDGs into climate plans remains poorly understood. This article shed light on this question with a text analysis of SDG “keywords” in climate plans for two British and two Japanese cities. The results revealed that none of the surveyed cities have connected climate with socioeconomic priorities covered in SDG1 (poverty), SDG8 (employment), SDG5 (gender), and SDG10 (inequalities). Meanwhile, the United Kingdom cities made more connections between climate and responsible consumption and production (SDG12) than the Japanese cities. Further, Kyoto, Japan shares a climate-SDGs linkages profile that resembles the United Kingdom cities more than Kawasaki. Though not without limitations, text analysis can facilitate the city-to-city peer learning needed to make urban climate plans sustainable within and across countries.

AbstractThe concept of resilience has been developed for over 40 years in different disciplines. The academic discussion on defining resilience is thriving to create interdisciplinary understandings and meanings. Simultaneously, resilience has firmly entered into planning practice to address vulnerabilities and cities' exposure facing to present and future hazards particularly related to climate change effects. In the last twenty years, a growing number of cities are adopting local climate actions, and urban resilience is also gradually a crucial part of international and national policies worldwide. Despite the increasing attention to urban resilience, its implementation at the local scale and the required increasing ambition are still lagging, also due to a lack of dialogue among researchers (the scientific level), policy-makers (the normative level) and practitioners (the operational level). Following the 2018 CitiesIPCC Research and Action Agenda recommendations, this paper contributes to improving understanding barriers, opportunities, and needs for science-policy-practice dialogue for urban climate resilience. The paper analyses the urban climate resilient strategiesstrategies of the Italian metropolitan cities, concluding that a science-policy-practice dialogue is lacking in implementing evidence-based climate change resilience policies and actions actions at the local scale. Starting from the Italian case study, the paper suggests an iterative process to unlock the science-policy-practice dialogue for contributing to operationalise urban climate resilience fostering thanks to a multiscalar governance approach.

Despite signing the Mayors Climate Change Agreement, few US cities have made significant progress in either climate mitigation or adaptation. For the most part, European cities have been more effective, albeit with assistance from the European Union and their national governments. Several of the most successful European cities have implemented eco-districts, which have offered many lessons for overall sustainability planning. Using Malmö, Sweden as a case study, we ask how planners and elected officials learned from implementing an eco-district, focusing on experimentation with new technologies and approaches to planning. We identify how “double-loop learning”, a term coined by Argyris and Shön, was at play in changing planning practice. As eco-districts are catching on in North American cities, there is much to be learned from European practice.

Evidence shows that current adaptation planning approaches are not always successful in generating actionable knowledge to guide implementation on the ground. There remains a persistent disconnect between the production of (physical) climate science and the implementation of practical, local, and context-specific adaptation actions. We argue for a need to incorporate “subaltern” knowledge (i.e., that which is typically labeled local, traditional, or indigenous knowledge) in climate adaptation science and practice. Building on recent comparative assessment studies, we identify limitations of current local adaptation action in its typical application of scientific knowledge and illustrate key pathways through which the subaltern can be integrated to better inform current approaches. We argue that subaltern knowledge can be a critical source of innovation and can help to broaden the adaptation solution space by enhancing both the effectiveness and the social legitimacy of actions.

A global goal to limit dangerous climate change has been agreed through the 2015 Paris Accords. The scientific case for action has been accepted by nearly all governments, at national and local or state level. Yet in all legislatures, there is a gap between the stated climate ambitions and the implementation of the measures necessary to achieve them. This paper examines this gap by analysing the experience of the following three UK cities: Belfast, Edinburgh, and Leeds. Researchers worked with city officials and elected representatives, using interviews and deliberative workshops to develop their shared understandings. The study finds that local actors employ different strategies to respond to the stated climate emergency, based on their innate understanding, or ‘phronetic knowledge’, of what works. It concludes that rapid climate action depends not just on the structures and mechanisms of governance, but at a deeper level, the assumptions, motivations and applied knowledge of decision-makers.