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Implementing Rapid Climate Action: Learning from the ‘Practical Wisdom’ of Local Decision-Makers

Author

Listed:
  • Andy Yuille

    (Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK)

  • David Tyfield

    (Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK)

  • Rebecca Willis

    (Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Andy Yuille & David Tyfield & Rebecca Willis, 2021. "Implementing Rapid Climate Action: Learning from the ‘Practical Wisdom’ of Local Decision-Makers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-18, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:10:p:5687-:d:557550
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erik Haites, 2018. "Carbon taxes and greenhouse gas emissions trading systems: what have we learned?," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(8), pages 955-966, September.
    2. Steven Bernstein & Matthew Hoffmann, 2018. "The politics of decarbonization and the catalytic impact of subnational climate experiments," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 51(2), pages 189-211, June.
    3. Jonathan Morris & John Harrison & Andrea Genovese & Liam Goucher & S. C. L. Koh, 2017. "Energy policy under austerity localism: what role for local authorities?," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(6), pages 882-902, November.
    4. David Tyfield & Anders Blok, 2016. "Doing methodological cosmopolitanism in a mobile world," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(4), pages 629-641, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Margarida Casau & Diana C. M. Cancela & João C. O. Matias & Marta Ferreira Dias & Leonel J. R. Nunes, 2021. "Coal to Biomass Conversion as a Path to Sustainability: A Hypothetical Scenario at Pego Power Plant (Abrantes, Portugal)," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Pauline von Hellermann, 2021. "From Ecophany to Burnout? An Anthropologist’s Reflections on Two Years of Participating in Council-Citizen Climate Governance in Eastbourne," World, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-17, December.

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