IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/poango/v10y2022i1p290-301.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Anchoring Policies, Alignment Tensions: Reconciling New Zealand’s Climate Change Act and Emissions Trading Scheme

Author

Listed:
  • Tor Håkon Jackson Inderberg

    (Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway)

  • Ian Bailey

    (School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, UK)

Abstract

Climate Change Acts (CCAs) seek to anchor national climate policy by establishing long-term targets and lines of accountability that guide the development of other climate policy instruments. However, counter-pressures to modify CCAs can occur where tensions exist with the provisions of already-established policies that enjoy substantial political and stakeholder support. Such tensions can be especially pronounced where CCAs necessitate major changes to emissions trading schemes (ETSs) that have formed the mainstay of efforts to reduce national emissions. This article employs a novel anchoring policy framework to examine the dynamics of aligning ETSs with CCAs. We investigate debates on reforms to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme following the introduction of the Zero Carbon Act in 2019 to examine how alignment pressures between anchoring and subordinate policies are negotiated. The analysis reveals several tactics used to increase the acceptability of reforms to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme and protect the Zero Carbon Act’s integrity. The article concludes by arguing that a greater understanding of alignment pressures between anchoring and subordinate policies is essential in enabling both CCAs and ETSs to contribute to achieving decarbonisation goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Tor Håkon Jackson Inderberg & Ian Bailey, 2022. "Anchoring Policies, Alignment Tensions: Reconciling New Zealand’s Climate Change Act and Emissions Trading Scheme," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(1), pages 290-301.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v10:y:2022:i:1:p:290-301
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.v10i1.4788
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/4788
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/pag.v10i1.4788?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Carver & Patrick Dawson & Suzi Kerr, 2017. "Including Forestry in an Emissions Trading Scheme: Lessons from New Zealand," Working Papers 17_11, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    2. Ian Bailey, 2017. "Spatializing Climate Justice: Justice Claim Making and Carbon Pricing Controversies in Australia," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 107(5), pages 1128-1143, September.
    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. Tor Håkon Jackson Inderberg & Ian Bailey, 2022. "Anchoring Policies, Alignment Tensions: Reconciling New Zealand’s Climate Change Act and Emissions Trading Scheme," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(1), pages 290-301.
    2. Sara Fuller, 2020. "Towards a politics of urban climate responsibility: Insights from Hong Kong and Singapore," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(7), pages 1469-1484, May.
    3. Levente Timar, 2022. "Modelling private land-use decisions affecting forest cover: the effect of land tenure and environmental policy," Working Papers 22_12, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    4. Liao, Ling & Diaz-Rainey, Ivan & Kuruppuarachchi, Duminda & Gehricke, Sebastian, 2023. "The role of fundamentals and policy in New Zealand's carbon prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    5. Elkerbout, Milan & Bryhn, Julie & Righetti, Edoardo & Chapman, Francesca, 2022. "From carbon pricing to climate clubs: How to support global climate policy coordination towards climate neutrality," CEPS Papers 35998, Centre for European Policy Studies.
    6. Habib Zaman Khan & Muhammad Nurul Houqe & Ielemia K Ielemia, 2023. "Organic versus cosmetic efforts of the quality of carbon reporting by top New Zealand firms. Does market reward or penalise?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 686-703, January.
    7. Catherine Leining & Judd Ormsby & Suzi Kerr, 2017. "Evolution of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme: Linking," Working Papers 17_06, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    8. Sareen, Siddharth & Haarstad, Håvard, 2018. "Bridging socio-technical and justice aspects of sustainable energy transitions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 624-632.
    9. Sandra Cortés Acosta & Arthur Grimes & Catherine Leining, 2020. "Decision trees: Forestry in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme post-2020," Working Papers 20_11, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    10. Catherine Leining & Suzi Kerr, 2019. "Managing Scarcity and Ambition in the NZ ETS," Working Papers 19_07, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.

    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:cog:poango:v10:y:2022:i:1:p:290-301. 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: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    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.