Local Governance on Climate Mitigation: A Comparative Study of China and Japan

Lingxuan Liu, Shotaro Matsuno, Bing Zhang, Beibei Liu and Oran Young
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Lingxuan Liu: State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210046, People's Republic of China; and Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Shotaro Matsuno: Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University
Beibei Liu: State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210046, People's Republic of China
Oran Young: Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Environment and Planning C, 2013, vol. 31, issue 3, 475-489

Abstract: With this paper we provide a comparative study of local climate mitigation from both China and Japan, in the context of pessimistic international regimes to achieve significant results on climate mitigation. We compare the political systems, institutional arrangements, and local actors in local climate mitigation through a policy cycle analysis. We find that climate initiatives in the two countries have inherited the political characteristics of traditional environmental management within a centralized administrative system; moreover, these initiatives also reflect the emergence of local governance. Owing to similar political cultures but differing roles of local governments, both countries are making progress with respect to the agenda-setting and policy formation stages, but are facing greater obstacles regarding implementation and evaluation. The monocentric local governance in China results in an easy but irrational planning process, while the powerless local agents in Japan cannot hardly promote bolder campaigns for energy industries. Current administrative systems created by decades of local environmental problem solving are no longer adaptive enough to facilitate the bottom-up emergence of local mitigating activities. Local governments and administration systems should be adaptive regarding capacity building and institutional innovation to improve local governance on climate mitigation.

Keywords: comparative study; climate mitigation; local governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envirc:v:31:y:2013:i:3:p:475-489

DOI: 10.1068/c11246

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