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This article contributes to the literature on state capacity in financialized political economies by studying the market-based investment setting for the Thames Tideway Tunnel, a £4.2 billion sewer, built underneath central London to prevent raw sewage from spilling into the River Thames. Most analyses conclude that financial statecraft undermines state capacities, as it empowers finance and exposes states to uncontrollable risks. This article moves beyond these accounts by arguing that public policy officials engage with finance instrumentally, taking on risks to solve the governing challenges they face. It demonstrates that state action can build islands of state capacity with financial statecraft in fragmented policy environments. Based on expert interviews and documentary analysis, the article traces how the UK's Ministry of the Environment experimented with a policy instrument and used investment capacities from different levels of government, to implement the Thames Tideway Tunnel through institutional equity investment and share risks in the privatized and financialized environmental sector. The paper concludes that under the current conjuncture, financial statecraft will play an important role in addressing the climate crisis. Therefore, further comparative research is required to explore its normative paradox. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to understand how the UK government's headline climate change targets are translated into action at the local level in the transport sector drawing on the findings of research in two English regions. In doing so, these headline targets are identified as a symbolic meta-policy that results in little action on the ground and which challenges established conceptions of policy implementation. Both the 'meta' and 'symbolic' aspects of the policy offer part of the explanation for the lack of substantive action on the ground. As a meta-policy, the headline targets across government require the elaboration of other policies at other levels such as targets for government departments and local authorities, but these are largely absent, leaving the meta-policy without teeth. Over time, these headline targets have developed into a symbolic policy, serving political goals but having little practical effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although in recent years great emphasis has been placed on global agreements and national commitments on climate change, ultimately action on mitigation and adaptation must take place at the local level. Many local authorities have to face questions of whether they should develop policies on climate change, and if so, on what evidence should policies be designed and delivered. This paper describes how academic research on the economics of low carbon cities (the 'mini-Stern review') helped create such an evidence base for the Leeds City Region and its constituent local authorities. We describe how the response to the evidence and the pathways to impact were different in the individual local authorities and what this means for our understanding of evidence in local policy making. In terms of Weiss' (Social sciences and modern states: national experiences and theoretical crossroads. Advances in political science, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, ) classification, the study was mainly useful as an argument and idea rather than being used instrumentally. We find that the policy and political context in each authority determines to a large extent whether such an academic study is useable as evidence. The contents and timing of the study need to align with existing policy and/or political agendas: is climate change on the agenda at all, with what priority and how is it framed. We find confirmation of a relationship between the policy problem type and the role of evidence as argument, idea or data. The mini-Stern study itself was just one contribution to wide-ranging processes of informing, convincing, pressurising, etc., not just within the different councils but also within the wider communities. Other contextual factors include composition, agenda and activities of local civil society and the local business community. Finally, it depends on the expertise of policy officers in the councils what use is made of evidence. Making policy takes (much) time, translation and negotiation across levels and sectors. Policy work describes how policy officers bring their diverse forms of knowledge to bear on policy questions; how this work is done is something that is learned from practice rather than from the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How genuine is the Conservative party's rediscovery of the environment? Would a Conservative government led by David Cameron implement a wide-ranging and progressive environmental policy? This article explores why Cameron has embraced the environment so enthusiastically when Conservative governments have had a poor record of environmental protection and the Conservative party has traditionally shown little interest in the issue. It assesses the impact of Cameron's strategy both on his own party and on the wider world of environmental politics and it evaluates the continuing commitment of the Conservatives to the issue by assessing what kind of policies a future Conservative government might implement. Although Cameron remains committed to the issue and he has already had a positive impact on Labour government policy, he has not yet convinced his party or its supporters, so a future Conservative government would probably represent continuity rather than significant change in environmental policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various governments around the world are in the process of developing long-term climate change mitigation strategies. The British Labour government has been particularly active. In March 2007 it published a draft Climate Change Bill which provides a new legal framework designed to underpin efforts to mitigate climate change. Following public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny, a revised Bill was introduced into Parliament in November 2007; the new legislation is expected to become law during 2008. The key features of the Bill include a statutory target of reducing targeted greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 percent by 2050, the establishment of a new system of five-yearly 'carbon budgets' (set at least 15 years ahead), the creation of a powerful new expert Committee on Climate Change to advise, review and report on crucial climate change issues, and additional powers enabling governments to introduce new trading schemes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This article assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the Climate Change Bill and considers whether similar legislation should be adopted in other developed countries, such as New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a curious disjunction between the Labour Government's international actions and its domestic policy. Although Tony Blair did much to promote the climate change agenda on the international stage, domestically, with carbon emissions rising again, the Government will fail to meet its target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2010. This article examines the weaknesses in the Labour Government's domestic record and assesses the significance of the recent transformation of climate change politics. Several obstacles to the design and delivery of more effective policies are identified, which can be categorised as either problems of ‘environmental politics’ or ‘environmental governance’. It is argued that the recent politicisation of climate change has overcome some of these obstacles - albeit temporarily - but whether the pressure for further policy measures can be sustained, with a long-term impact on environmental governance, remains uncertain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK and Scottish governments policy commitments to renewable energy, driven by recognition of the impacts of global warming and climate change, have led to increasing interest in all aspects of renewable energy. This article is concerned with how the Scottish Executive is able to reconcile new hydro-electric developments as a source of renewable energy with the local impacts of those developments. The outcome of a recent application for consent to construct a hydro-electric scheme at Shieldaig and Slattadale in Wester Ross provides an illustration of the issues involved. The local environmental impacts of hydroelectric development are considerable and the application of environmental impact assessment to the approval procedure for new schemes means that a much broader range of environmental impacts is now considered than ever before. The decision shows the importance of compliance with European Community environmental law, and is particularly interesting for its application of the precautionary principle to prevent impacts on protected species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]