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This article develops and tests a refined theoretical account of de-Europeanisation to assess how well it explains the increasing differentiation of UK environmental policy after 2016. Drawing on an original analysis of relevant policy documents, parliamentary processes and legal reforms, it reveals how policy, politics and polity have changed more significantly than was originally foreseen. It departs from the existing literature by revealing that the devolution settlements of the late 1990s opened up the possibility of not one, but multiple pathways of change ranging from de-Europeanization, through to dis- and active re-engagement. It describes how UK policy – once outside the framework of EU processes and institutions – is being re-shaped via a multi-level negotiation between actors in Brussels, London and the devolved administrations. It concludes that despite conflicting policy objectives across the UK, the predominant pattern of change is nevertheless one of gradual disengagement from the EU environmental rule-book. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the potential effects to the United Kingdom's (UK) economy and environmental policy if it exits the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) under the law of treaties. Also cited are the countries exiting ECT like Australia, Russia, and Italy, the efforts to modernize ECT, and how the ECT could hinder the UK's transition to renewable energy and sustain its dependence on fossil fuels.

The politics of climate change is much discussed, but there has been little investigation into how politicians themselves understand or articulate the issue. Corpus analysis, a method developed within linguistics, is used to investigate how UK politicians talk about climate change, using the example of the 2008 Climate Change Bill. Corpus techniques, including keyword analysis, collocation and semantic tagging, are used, alongside critical reading of the text. The analysis shows that politicians frame climate change as an economic and technical issue, and neglect discussion of the human and social dimensions. They are selective in their use of scientific evidence, with little mention of abrupt or irreversible change. In doing so, they attempt to ‘tame’ climate change, rather than confronting difficult realities. While this strategy has the benefit of political acceptability, it does not allow for discussion of the full political and social implications of climate change, and precludes more radical responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exploitation of shale gas resources is a significant issue of environmental justice. Uneven distributions of risks and social impacts to local site communities must be balanced against the economic benefits to gas users and developers; and unequal decision-making powers must be negotiated between local and central governments, communities and fracking site developers. These distributive and procedural elements are addressed in relation to UK policy, planning, regulatory and industry development. I adopt an explicitly normative framework of policy evaluation, addressing a research gap on the ethics of shale gas by operationalising Shrader-Frechette’s Principle of Prima Facie Political Equality. I conclude that UK fracking policy reveals inherent contradictions of environmental justice in relation to the Conservative Government’s localist and planning reform agendas. Early fracking policy protected communities from harm in the wake of seismic risk events, but these were quickly replaced with pro-industry economic stimulation and planning legislation that curtailed community empowerment in fracking decision-making, increased environmental risks to communities, transferred powers from local to central government and created the conditions of distributive injustices in the management of community benefit provisions. I argue that only by “re-localising” the scale of fracking governance can political equality be ensured and the distributive and procedural environmental injustices be ameliorated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the performance and impact of the Green political party of Great Britain during the 2015 general election and mentions their campaign, manifesto and the election results. Topics discussed include the election of Green party member Caroline Lucas to the British parliament, the discussion on the agenda regarding the environmental policy during the election by Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democratic parties and the performance of the Green party before and after elections. It also provides an analysis of their performance during the general elections and discusses the reasons for their popularity.

Theorists have argued that environmental justice requires more than just the fair distribution of environmental benefits and harms. It also requires participation in environmental decisions of those affected by them, and equal recognition of their cultural identities, dimensions most clearly articulated in relation to indigenous struggles, where past devaluation of place-based cultural identities is seen as a source of injustice. An alternative concept of environmental justice is proposed that draws on accounts of how attachment (and place attachment specifically) is constitutive for both self-efficacy and collective agency in the face of an intrinsically uncertain future. Drawing on the work of Peter Marris and using a case study of UK gas pipeline infrastructure, it is shown how disruption to attachments also disrupts lived strategies for dealing with an uncertain future. The source of injustice involved in such disruption should be viewed as the ‘colonisation of attachment’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A successful carbon capture and storage (CCS) policy and programme is widely considered essential to curbing carbon dioxide emissions. What explains the strikingly different policy outcomes in two key European Union political heavyweights and coal economies, the UK and Germany? The UK has decided to contract two specific CCS projects, with explicit timelines for realisation; Germany has made no such decisions. From scrutiny of official documents and in-depth high-level interviews, it was found that the UK has more favourable structural capacity, including offshore storage capacity (which evokes less conflict) and significant oil-industry expertise, and thus an easier task. Moreover, this structural capacity has interacted with a solid political commitment to bring CCS forward in the UK, including specific, multistage funding and a high-level drive to develop CCS, especially after 2009. In Germany, by contrast, CCS has encountered increasing local and central opposition since 2009, with the Energiewende and renewables being accorded priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orthodox depictions of a fraught labour–environmental relationship privileging class, ideological and programmatic differences are problematised by newly quantified evidence of British unions' pro-environmental policy-making since 1967. The following narrative blends widely accepted accounts of the fortunes of both movements with an evaluation of Britain's shifting political opportunity structure and coalition theory to identify an alternative range of constraints and opportunities influencing the propensity and capacity of both movements to interact effectively, culminating recently in unions' emergence as environmental actors in their own right. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper challenges “Big Society (BS) Localism”, seeing it as an example of impoverished localist thinking which neglects social justice considerations. We do this through a critical examination of recent turns in the localist discourse in the UK which emphasise self-reliant communities and envisage a diminished role for the state. We establish a heuristic distinction between positive and negative approaches to localism. We argue that the Coalition Government's BS programme fits with a negative localist frame as it starts from an ideological assumption that the state acts as a barrier to community-level associational activity and that it should play a minimal role. “BS localism” (as we call it) has been influential over the making of social policy, but it also has implications for the achievement of environmental goals. We argue that this latest incarnation of localism is largely ineffective in solving problems requiring collective action because it neglects the important role that inequalities play in inhibiting the development of associational society. Drawing upon preliminary research being undertaken at the community scale, we argue that staking environmental policy success on the ability of local civil society to fill the gap left after state retrenchment runs the risk of no activity at all. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years within the UK, behaviour change as a policy tool has gained popularity. Concurrently, the role of local authorities in both tackling unsustainability and reducing carbon emissions has become more prominent. This paper describes a recent study in the UK that aims to understand how local authorities are working to tackle unsustainability and encourage pro-environmental behaviour change in the population. Through interviews with local authority sustainability officers from London, this paper reviews the extent of sustainability work currently being undertaken by local authorities to assist residents transition to a more sustainable lifestyle. The study discusses key findings from the interviews, drawing on the commonalities and factors that influence local authority sustainability programmes. The key finding from these interviews is that there is a need for more robust monitoring and evaluation of local authority sustainability programmes. Robust evaluation would improve understanding of the potential contribution that local authority sustainability work could make towards addressing unsustainability and meeting national emission reduction targets. In addition, it would assist the development of the evidence-base on behaviour change interventions and their effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Drawing primarily on the UK experience, five practical lessons are identified for policy makers who seek to decarbonize their economies. First, decarbonization needs a solid legal basis to give it credibility and overcome time inconsistency problems. Second, putting a price on carbon is essential, but low-carbon policies also have to address wider market, investment, and behavioural failures. This in turn raises issues of policy complexity and coordination. Third, the low-carbon economy is likely to be highly electrified. Clean electricity could be a cost-effective way of decarbonizing many parts of the economy, including transport, heating, and parts of industry. Decarbonization therefore starts in the power sector. Fourth, the low-carbon transition is primarily a revolution of production and not consumption. Both supply-side innovation and demand-side adjustments in lifestyle and behaviour are needed, though the former should dominate. Fifth, the transition to a low-carbon economy is economically and technologically feasible. Achieving it is a question of policy competence and having the political will to drive economic and social change. Policy relevance Practically all major GHG emitters now have climate change legislation on their statute books. Given what is at stake, and the complexity of the task at hand, it is important that policy makers learn from each other and establish a code of good low-carbon practice. The main lessons from the UK are distilled and presented. Carbon policy is considered for key sectors, such as electricity, buildings, and transport, and possible decarbonization paths are also outlined. It is shown that the transition to a low-carbon economy is economically and technologically feasible. Achieving it is primarily a question of policy competence and political will. This in turn means that climate change action needs a strong legislative basis to give the reforms statutory legitimacy. Low-carbon policies will have to address a wide range of market, investment and behavioural failures. Putting a price on carbon is an essential starting point, but only one of many policy reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental politics research frequently centres on the analysis of networks but predominantly from a qualitative perspective. The case is made for combining quantitative analysis of policy networks alongside qualitative research. This enables the structure and form of the network to be considered and focused attention then paid to how actors operationalise the network and give agency to the position of central nodes. This is explored through an empirical analysis of the issue network surrounding the zero-carbon built environment agenda in the United Kingdom in 2009–11. It demonstrates the diffuse yet clustered nature of the network and the importance of expertise claims, internal communication, resources, a unified voice and the organisational business model in shaping organisations' activities within the network. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ambitious carbon reduction targets are driving a new era of carbon control reflecting the UK, the EU and international commitment to mitigating the predicted impacts of global warming and climate change. Observed as a transition away from the more holistic goals of sustainable development (While et al., 2001), the ‘low carbon’ (LC) agenda is increasingly recognised as problematic in so far as it is pro-technological and promethean, marginalising the importance of social, political, economic and wider environmental issues. With specific implications for housing and householders, the paper explores how the current preoccupation with ‘LC’ presents some potential pitfalls in relation to advancing sustainable housing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Whilst environmental issues are now a prominent part of the public policy agenda in Britain, less attention has been paid to the factors shaping contemporary public concern for the environment. The sources of environmentally-related beliefs and behaviours in contemporary British public opinion are assessed, using data from the British Household Panel Survey 2008–9. Exploratory data reduction analysis is undertaken on multiple indicators of environmental concern. Two multi-item scales relating to the perceived impacts of climate change and consumer behaviours are examined. Linear regression analysis shows that sociological and attitudinal factors have similar effects on beliefs and behaviour. The sociological factors showing consistent effects are gender, age, religious salience and education. Attitudinally, there are broadly consistent effects for partisanship and political engagement. The effects of other variables differ across beliefs and behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a peak in activism against climate change in the UK, new environmental direct action networks have not yet received much academic attention. Taking perhaps the most prominent of such networks – the Camp for Climate Action – which held several high-profile protest events between 2006 and 2011 as a case study, and using a theoretical framework that understands society as being distinctly ‘post-political’ in character, we ask questions about the knowledge claims that form the foundations of radical environmental politics. Drawing on published statements and press releases, as well as from our insights as active participants in the Camp, we analyse the strategy of environmental protest where climate change has become its focus. The Camp for Climate Action was a contested political arena. We argue that the Camp's strategy was characterised by ‘scientised’, ‘post-political’ politics which operated within an ethical framework that prescribed individual responsibility as the primary basis for action. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To assess whether the British government's pragmatic use of the precautionary principle in its environmental policy decision-making is unprincipled or principled, three cases are examined: organophosphorous pesticides in sheep dips; genetically-modified crops; and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE: so-called ‘mad cow’ disease). These cases were chosen because they were particularly difficult to resolve scientifically, and gave rise to heated debates over the merits of the precautionary principle approach to environmental policy. The government's decisions were, respectively: to reject the precautionary principle in the case of organophosphorous pesticides; to adopt a strong version of the precautionary principle in the case of genetically-modified crops; and to adopt a weak version of the precautionary principle in the case of BSE. These decisions were not unprincipled, but principled, in that they applied a consistent and coherent approach to the precautionary principle based on the ethical principle of ‘circumstances’. Drawing on the pragmatic political philosophy of Edmund Burke, it is shown how such an approach is justifiable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an increasing interest in the use of IT-based tools to encourage public participation in environmental decision making. Typically, this has involved the development of (predominantly prototype) systems applied in workshop scenarios with those stakeholders with an immediate interest in the planning issue in hand. Increasingly, however, the Internet is being used to explore the use of online visualisation and mapping tools, with evaluation often taking the form of feedback questionnaires that are used to refine such techniques. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how innovative visualisation techniques can enhance existing methods of information provision and public participation in a renewable energy setting. Specifically, we are concerned with examining participant opinions on the use of such tools to promote participation in relation to a proposed wind farm in South Wales. Our findings suggest that survey participants are generally optimistic regarding the potential for such software and overall give strong support for the development and implementation of these technologies in a real-world planning context. However, we suggest that such techniques need to be carefully tailored to the types of public engagement being sought in order to link particular tasks to specific technology types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2007, the UK Government announced an ambitious zero-carbon target for all new housing in England. This paper shows how the definition and its associated policies emerged from discourses of environmental policy innovation; how the problem subsequently became framed as one of mainstreaming, consequent upon the apparent success of experimental schemes and defined in more detail through the interaction between pressure group politics and the technical analyses that accompanied the government's consultation exercises. Finally, it shows how regional and local variations in housing and property markets are likely to influence the ease of zero carbon development. The analysis uses concepts drawn from both the science and technology literature and the literature on policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At a time of ever-increasing urbanization, research consistently indicates that crime and the fear of crime are key concerns for society and that safety is a vital feature of what is considered a high-quality sustainable environment. This paper critically inspects the theories and evidence from the field of environmental criminology and interrogates some of the safety assumptions underpinning planning policy in the UK, the USA, and in Australia, particularly those policies promoted by New Urbanism. It is argued that planning professionals need to consider and understand this new perspective for safer and sustainable cities, rather than relying on assumptions that are not supported by any systematic evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the overlaps between the academic and policy fields of disability and the environment lie a myriad of issues, both complementary and conflicting, which have to date received little attention. This paper aims to draw together the small amount of literature - both academic and non-academic - which has addressed such issues and begins to map both the nature and extent of the overlaps. It discusses key themes that have emerged from the literature analysed and points to a number of areas and issues which may well benefit from further research. In particular, it highlights the invisibility of disabled people, and the consequences which arise, in many areas of environmental concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to critically review the concept of resilience and to assess how it might be used both to understand and to evaluate local government responses to climate change. The relevance of the resilience agenda is located in the growing sense of uncertainty in the face of external economic and environmental 'shocks'. In the UK, in particular, the challenges of tackling climate change, responding to economic recession and introducing major cuts in public expenditure provide an appropriate context within which the utility of the resilience agenda can be examined. In emphasising the transformational view of resilience as 'bouncing forward' - as opposed to that of recovery or 'bouncing back' - the article highlights a number of features that could characterise a resilient local government approach to both mitigating and adapting to climate change. In acknowledging the emergence of a number of features of local resilience, the article concludes by considering how such an agenda can be further developed by local government. A key question that remains is the extent to which the local creativity, innovation and risk-taking needed for resilience can be developed given the economic and political constraints confronting local government in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses an innovative policy approach to climate change mitigation in Great Britain, called personal carbon trading (PCT), in which emission rights are allocated to individuals. According to the authors, despite the many variations of the PCT scheme, there are two main components they all share, including the lack of an option to opt out once an individual becomes part of a scheme and the distribution of an annual, equal per capita carbon emissions allowance for personal use without a fee. Topic include a discussion of the rationale behind a cap-and-trade policy approach in the context of climate mitigation policies, a summary of the status of PCT policy and research in Great Britain, and implications of the personal carbon allowances (PCA) scheme on individuals.

Britain attempted to create an informal empire in the Middle East and used the British Middle East Office to sponsor development work precisely to attain a significant influence in the region, one that would salvage a fair share of rapidly declining imperial power. Environmental initiatives, many of them focusing on forestry, composed a key element of this programme. However an informal empire did not ensue. This led the Foreign Office, and many historians, to overlook the importance of the BMEO. This article explores how the environmental reforms proposed by British advisers radically changed land use in the Middle East between 1946 and 1970, and left behind a remarkable legacy of conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of the environment in Great Britain's 2010 general election. According to the authors, Great Britain's Labour Party promised to make the environment a priority when it assumed power in 1997. He notes that the Labour Party's success in maintaining the environment as its top priority has seen mixed results and cites several initiatives enacted by the Labour Party, including climate change legislation, support for renewable energy, and an eco-towns program. Topics include an overview the 2008 Climate Change Act, the role of the environment in the 2010 British political campaigns, and the Green Party's national strategy.

The article focuses on the careful evaluation and judgment within the limits of environmental judicial review in Great Britain. It discusses a defendant's perspective on environmental judicial review and access to justice wherein the Supreme Court is looking at the impediment effect of the costs as well as the detailed evaluation of costs pertaining to the environmental judicial review. The article also looks into the current views and developments which defends on claims on environmental judicial review. It notes that the Environment Agency which was established by the Environment Act 1995 is to act as the primary environmental regulator for both England and Wales.

This review analyses the report Learning through Life from the point of view of the sustainable development theme and from a 'South' perspective. The review recognises that the report is written to influence UK policy-makers and practitioners; it has captured the results of a broad-based inquiry, and it therefore has had to proceed within that remit. It introduces some refreshing and innovative ideas to shift the terms in which lifelong learning is considered to be more integrated across the lifespan in the UK. It has located the discussions broadly within the national and global financial and environmental crises and has offered suggestions for ways to encourage individual and collective engagement with lifelong learning as integral to a form of sustainable development. It has implicitly offered a 'critique' of the current provision of lifelong learning within the contemporary economic and political conditions rather than a 'critical' analysis that explicitly advocates radically different ways of being and doing business in the UK and globally. Given the extraordinary times within which we are living and the heightened awareness of the need for bold planetary responses to the economic, political and environmental conditions around the world, the report does not offer 'a great leap forward' but rather offers what have been referred to as 'momentary palliatives for immediate pain' that are not in themselves 'steps towards creating the new successor system that we want'. However, these are not to be sneered at, but to be worked with alongside deep engagement in both debates and experimentation in the search for alternatives that can produce a more democratic, egalitarian learning planet, which can sustain life for centuries to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Environment Act of 1995 (Part IV) requires local authorities to review and assess air quality in their area of jurisdiction and to determine locations where concentrations of defined pollutants exceed. The ongoing review and assessment process is one of the largest locally based science policy and science consultation initiatives undertaken in the UK. Combining a questionnaire-based survey with in depth case studies has allowed an exploration of the process and the development of better practice guidance for such consultation initiatives. The research suggests that while there are no simple solutions to the dilemma of how best to engage the public in such consultations, there are steps that can be taken to improve consultation. Key factors that facilitate local community participation in such processes include a well-informed and adequately resourced local community and an explicit connection between participatory and decision-making processes. Although the research focused on local air quality management as a case study of consultation mechanisms, the outcomes will be relevant to other locally based environmental management issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining biodiversity and natural habitat are essential to achieving sustainable development. The UK's Planning Policy Statement on 'Biodiversity and Geological Conservation' (known as PPS 9) and the 'South East Plan' emphasise the need to avoid a net loss in biodiversity, with Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) enjoined to pursue ecologically sensitive options. Our research revealed serious problems hampering the local planning authorities' efforts to incorporate whole-landscape scale planning into Local Development Frameworks (LDFs). These are required under the new 'Spatial Planning' framework, enacted in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, and the Planning Act 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an increasing emphasis on risk-based approaches in the scientific and economic assessment of climate change, exemplified by the Stern Report and IPPC 4th Assessment. In the United Kingdom, risk discourse also increasingly dominates environmental policy-making and governance. The use of risk assessment, management and communication practices in climate change governance and policy is critically examined, utilising an interpretation of 'risk' as a knowledge practice for informing decision-making and an instrument for governing populations. In elucidating current risk practices, alongside key critiques and varied proposals for revised approaches to risk characterisation, both the capacities and limitations of a risk basis for policy aimed at delivering adaptation and deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are examined. While contemporary risk approaches align well with dominant political rationalities in affluent Western democracies, they have serious limitations as a basis for the delivery of aggressive climate policy aims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory and analysis of regulation provides an understanding of climate change regulation and its limitations leading to the identification of political strategies to improve such regulation by orientating it more towards public interest objectives. Public interest and private interest theories of regulation are considered together with regime theory, which understands regulatory regimes as dynamic interactions of a variety of forces that can be altered by external pressure. One possible pressure is governmental action to increase regime transparency. UK and EU climate change regulation is used to consider whether increased transparency, in particular focused around a carbon price-based instrument with quantified emissions reductions, can shift the climate regime towards meeting the public interest. This runs up against difficulties of sociocultural plurality and the one-dimensional nature of the price mechanism. More successful strategy requires a price-based instrument coupled to transparent complementary policies and regulations that address sociocultural pluralities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In UK policy circles, there is a growing recognition that mediating the interface between policy making and the public through local government led initiatives is one way through which to provide a practicable means to deliver carbon reduction at an individual, household, and community level. Following on from the aims of Local Agenda 21 in creating the space for a more bottom-up policy infrastructure, the 2007 UK Energy White Paper is one of the latest political statements to highlight the way in which reaching UK targets on CO2 emissions will continue to involve a greater local response to climate change. This emphasis was given further weight through the introduction of a new local performance framework in April 2008. This new set of 198 national performance indicators (PIs) for local government and other local bodies are now the only PIs which Central Government will use to assess local government performance. Importantly, they include three PIs that specifically cover the issue of climate change and carbon reduction (CLG 2007a). For many years, local authorities in the UK have played a role in encouraging more community led sustainable development objectives. However, what Giddens (2000) describes as the 'modernization' of local governance, has often proved to be inherently problematic, not least in developing the 'civic engagement' aspect of this model of governance. The article traces these problems in relation to the increasing responsibilities of local government in developing local community led responses to climate change. Although the UK Government continue to highlight the opportunities for this type of political framework in addressing the bottom-up complexities of climate change, we consider why some of the issues raised in three case study examples are indicative of wider problems in expanding this form of governance in the UK. The article concludes that difficulties encountered with regard to the implementation of LA 21's central objectives have extended through to the more recent focus for action in combating the specific challenge of climate change. More broadly, innovation in the sense of fostering an effective level of civic engagement in sustainable development objectives, continues to remain problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UK sustainable housing policy defines sustainability in technical environmental terms, but a social dimension is present in some policy measures. The various measures (exhortatory, regulatory, and economic) are outlined. Particular focus is placed on the “100% zero carbon by 2016” objective for new housing and the measures designed to achieve it. The development of the policy is explained in terms of international commitments, party politics, lobbying by the building materials and energy industries, and by “pioneer” local governments. The policy has not been the object of a mass environmental movement, and has low political saliency. The tension between Building Regulations, supported by the house-building industry, and local government planning policy as policy tools is discussed. It is argued that the reluctance of the house-building industry to include sustainability features in new houses undermines its influence vis-a-vis that of other industries and of local government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to growing pressure to meet recycling targets set by the UK central government, it is becoming increasingly important for local authorities to understand the characteristics of recycling behaviour and the factors that influence them. The demographic, situational and psychological factors that influence recycling behaviour were drawn from existing empirical research studies and used to create an on-line survey of university students in Oxford. Students' recycling behaviour was influenced by situational variables such as provision of a domestic recycling box and the recycling behaviour of family and friends, whereas the student's reported willingness to minimise waste was linked to psychological variables such as environmental concern. These fundamental differences in the behavioural characteristics of waste minimisation, compared with recycling, demonstrate the importance for local authorities to identify which types of behaviour they wish to encourage. The authors recommend strategies for local authorities to facilitate waste minimisation and increase recycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two approaches to the study of the evolution of tourism partnerships over time: a stage approach and a combined path dependence and path creation approach. They represent alternative frameworks to explain temporal trends in partnership management and activities. Previous applications of the stage approach to tourism partnerships have emphasized common phases in the evolution of their organizational arrangements and management activities. Path dependence and path creation ideas have not been used previously to understand tourism partnerships. The path dependence approach highlights continuities and changes between past and current practices in the organization of partnerships and in their activities. It helps establish if partnerships fundamentally alter the policy environment and practical outcomes, and thus if they are path-creating and innovative, and it also assists in explaining the influences on these processes. The two approaches are used to evaluate a partnership established to reduce conflicts around tourism and conservation in a British national park. The case study illustrates the valuable but different insights that the stage and path dependence approaches offer for research on partnership working. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a heightened interest in the 'region' as a key site of economic activities. While regionalisation is often explained as part of the wider process of state scalar strategy in response to global economic restructuring, less attention has been paid to the role of the region in rescaling of environmental governance. This paper aims to fill the gap by drawing on the changing governance of municipal waste planning in the UK. Such a focus demonstrates that key elements of 'spatial Keynesianism' have been carried through, rather than superseded, in 'the new metropolitan reform'. Following a brief summary of the municipal waste problem and the influence of the EU regulatory measures in changing waste policy in the UK, the paper situates the regional institution building for waste planning in its historical and conceptual context. It then discusses the key rationales for regionalisation of waste in order to substantiate the central argument of the paper which is: the resilience of some of the key features of spatial Keynesianism in the new wave of metropolitan reforms. The final part of the paper unpicks the inherent tensions in state rescaling strategy and outlines the key factors that undermine the capacity of the state's reconfigured regional institutions to achieve their prescribed goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the election of the Labour government in Britain in 1997, there has been a noticeable change in the scales of governance for spatial planning for the environment. The European scale of planning for biodiversity has been reinforced, but there has been a wider shift to one in which the integration of the environment into planning is strongly influenced by global environmental issues and international obligations. This paper explores the implications of this in the areas of spatial planning for biodiversity, and spatial planning for climate change (both mitigation and adaptation). It examines how far global commitments have enabled actors at different levels of governance—national, regional and local—to increase their scope for action and influence on outcomes through appealing to different scales of framing issues and their solutions. The picture that emerges is a complex one. While the commitments to internationally agreed targets for biodiversity and energy generation have partially reinforced the centralizing tendency in national government to see spatial planning as an instrument to deliver these targets, they have also increased the scope for other actors to use networks across multiple scales to generate their own interpretation and action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By comparing the US environmental justice movement with recent European developments, this paper suggests an environmental justice framework which is based on the idea of environmental justice as a heterogeneous process rather than an analytical or normative category. Using major debates on environmental justice particularly in the UK and Germany as a touchstone, eight dimensions of environmental justice are carved out and integrated into a processual model. It is discussed how environmental justice as a process may become robust enough to integrate and react to changing natural and social conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes how well two major newspapers - one from the US and one from the UK - cover important environmental issues. The article includes a literature review of media and the environment, problems with environmental media, and methods of assessing news quality; the research focus; methodology, with an explanation of the content categories and rationale, which applies a conceptual framework of 'technological hazard'; results; and a discussion with limitations and possible additional research. [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]

An integrated set of low-carbon society (LCS) scenarios for the UK were analysed using the UK MARKAL Macro (M-M) model. A $100/tCO2 carbon price scenario was compared with long-term LCS scenarios with a domestic 80% CO2 reduction target. As M-M is a national-level model, a set of five international drivers were investigated, and grouped under Annex I consensus and Global consensus assumption sets. For economy-wide results the inclusion of international aviation and potential large-scale purchases of CO2 permits (when available) are most important. For sectoral implications, all international drivers considered here are important; for example in divergent overall size and configuration of the UK electricity sector. The carbon price scenario and set of 80% LCS targets scenarios give GDP losses rising from 0.36% to a range of 1.64-2.21% in 2050. This steep cost convexity in deep CO2 reductions represents increasing efforts to decarbonize the UK energy system, and the further impact of key international drivers. This illustrative analysis demonstrates that UK policy makers should be cognisant of, and flexible with respect to, international strategies on LCS and emission reduction targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The search for effective and efficient climate policy has led to a major expansion in the use of market-based instruments and voluntary agreements (New Environmental Policy Instruments [NEPIs]) at national and international levels. Yet, despite the prevalence of these instruments as an outcropping of the broader shift toward neoliberal approaches to environmental policies, tremendous diversity exists in the way signatories to the Kyoto Protocol have deployed NEPIs. Drawing on recent geographical and political science research on the neoliberalization of nature, this article reexamines reasons for geographical variations in market environmentalism and, in particular, the role of national policy styles in refracting neoliberal influence on environmental policy. In so doing, I argue that policy styles are too frequently conceptualized in terms of state processes, overlooking complex and territorialized social relations between regulators and regulated parties. To illustrate this claim, I compare the implementation of climate policy in the United Kingdom and Germany, exploring the effects of national policy styles on NEPI deployment, factors contributing to industry reactions to market-based and voluntary measures, and how national policy styles color these evaluations. This is used to argue that understanding geographical variations in market environmentalism requires greater appreciation of the role of industry groups in the creation, defense, and evolution of national policy styles. I conclude by reflecting on the study's implications for the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the nature of the relationship between sustainable waste management behaviour between the 'home' and 'work' settings. A questionnaire survey of 566 employees of the Cornwall NHS (National Health Service) was used to examine the nature of the behaviour between the two settings and to understand the main factors influencing the behaviour. The results indicate that there is strong link in the behaviour of individuals between the two settings, with employees who practised recycling activities at home also being more likely to practise a similar behaviour at work. There was also some similarity in the level of sustainability of the behaviour between the two settings. These behaviours were strongly influenced by the underlying attitudes and beliefs of the staff towards the environment. The implications for policy-making to improve sustainable waste management behaviour amongst individuals in England and Wales are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the initial development of the Ecological Footprint in the early 1990s, the concept has gained increased interest amongst academics and practitioners internationally. In the UK, it is estimated that some 60 to 70 Ecological Footprint studies were undertaken between 1999 and 2004. Although the majority of interest in Ecological Footprinting has come from local government, a recent study has found that government officers involved in the formulation of council policy have not been able to engage with the Ecological Footprint as a process or use the results to inform policy decisions. This paper analyses how an Ecological Footprint has been developed for Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The approach used to construct an Ecological Footprint for Cardiff has been significantly different to that which had been used previously in the UK, as it has involved a unique consortium of researchers at Cardiff University and policy development officers at Cardiff Council checking the quality of data used in the Footprint calculation, and developing a range of policy scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay examines developments within environmental policy making in the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany and asks: (i) can we identify patterns of convergence and/or divergence between the two countries?; and (ii) to what extent does the European integration process impact upon these patterns? It uses an historical institutionalist framework within which to frame the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes three relatively recent innovations in the Dutch agri-environment programme which have helped nature management to be contiguous with natural features allowing the landscape to be managed whole rather than piecemeal - and thus generate higher quality and greater scope in environmental management. The first two, joint submissions by neighbouring farmers and payments related to the level of environmental output delivered, are scheme innovations. The third, Environmental Co-operatives (EC) - clubs of neighbouring farmers that inter alia co-ordinate and help manage the scheme innovations - is an institutional innovation. None has an equivalent in the UK. Evidence from interviews with farmer and non-farmer members, policy makers, academics and other interested parties show the role EC play in overcoming some of the postulated problems of the two scheme innovations. Not all the problems have been overcome, and cost-benefit analyses have not been conducted, nevertheless there is sufficient evidence to suggest that these innovations have benefited all actors involved: farmers, the government, the environment and the rural economy. Analysis of UK agri-environment policy using actor network theory (ANT) suggests the UK government will need to show similar levels of trust in and commitment to the farming community before these innovations could be introduced in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK is reportedly an international leader in the application of environmental policy appraisal (EPA). From the late 1980s until 2004, UK central government sought to produce ex ante assessments of the potential environmental impacts of different policy options. Critics maintain that EPA had a very limited impact on policy-making activities in Whitehall departments. However, the empirical basis for these claims is surprisingly thin. This paper seeks to better understand what facilitated or retarded EPA by looking at its use in Whitehall, with the aim being to draw lessons for the UK's new and more integrated appraisal regime, as well as similar systems in the European Union. The paper finds that the implementation of EPA was both weak and highly sectorised, and that there is an underlying resistance to policy appraisal per se in Whitehall. These weaknesses urgently need to be addressed otherwise new systems of integrated appraisal will not deliver what is expected of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Blackwood (South Wales) roads protest during February to April 2004 as a case study, the article discusses the potential for a re-emergence of UK eco-action, examining the possibility that re-engagement with ‘single issue’ environmental protests is a probable direction for the UK direct action movement. Tactically and strategically, Blackwood could be a signifier for a new environmentally focused ‘cycle of contention’ which explicitly makes the links between the environment/climate change, and the frames of oil, war and capitalism which have been some of the key discursive repertoires of the anti-globalisation and anti-war movement(s). A potential return to ‘single issue’ eco-action should not be seen as ‘wheel reinvention’ but rather evidence of a movement which has reflexively built capacity over an activist generation. The article provides evidence of predisposed and latent mobilisation potential; emergent networks and campaigns focusing on eco-action in the United Kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Labour came to power in 1997 pledging to put environment concerns at the heart of policy-making. Shortly after being elected, the Labour Government signed the Kyoto Protocol and adopted a voluntary domestic target of a 20% cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2010. This article looks at the development of UK climate policy since 1997 and the political drivers that have led to development of the climate policy mix. It assesses the Climate Change Programme adopted in 2000 and its delivery, and it also looks at the 5-year Climate Change Programme Review published in March 2006. It conducts a quantitative assessment of the UK's performance by looking at emissions data, and it also provides a qualitative analysis, by looking at the UK policies and measures within their political and institutional context. The article concludes that Labour has been actively promoting climate policy since coming to power and has played a strong leadership role internationally. The UK is on track to meet and surpass its Kyoto target, meeting its international commitments. Between 24.1 and 29.1 million tonnes of carbon savings per year are expected by 2010. Policies and measures in the industrial sector are delivering real emissions reductions, in addition to the reductions made through fuel switching. The Government has found it more difficult to make some of the tough choices necessary to deliver emissions reductions in the transport and the household sectors. The article seeks to explain why the Labour Government has found it uncomfortable, politically, to implement stronger measures in these parts of the economy. The article highlights the changing dynamics within UK politics and concludes that there are two possible avenues for taking more stringent measures in the future. The first involves the development of a cross-party consensus on climate change. The second is to change the way that climate change is framed, so that it is no longer seen as an `environment' issue but one with which voters and decision-makers can immediately connect. Only then will it be possible to implement the necessary policies and measures across the whole economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The English derive a wide range of values from allotments, but nearly 35% of allotments have disappeared in the last 20 years. The real value of allotments has probably been underestimated. The contingent valuation method (CVM) was used to give a monetary value to benefits derived from allotments by allotment holders and local residents. The study was conducted in southeast England (Wye and Ashford, Kent and Greater London). A postal survey with open-ended questions was filled in by 124 allotment holders and 74 residents. Respondents were asked to express their maximum willingness to pay for allotments (WTP) and the minimum willingness to accept (WTA) compensation for loss of allotments. The mean annual WTP for keeping allotments of allotment holders were £78.93, £35.64 and £79.43, and for local residents were £41.66, £46.14 and £283.57, in Wye, Ashford and London, respectively. The allotment holders' WTP was strategically more than WTA compensation and they were only willing to pay rent for using allotments, not for retaining them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports research into the effect on the UK environment of the deregulation of land development controls. One form of deregulation is granting advance approval to specified classes of small-scale development because they are considered inconsequential. Previous research has indicated that such ‘permitted development’ may adversely affect the natural heritage. This study systematically investigated its impact on the natural heritage of Scotland. The study canvassed the opinions of agents best placed to comment: natural heritage authority field staff, local government planners and representatives of non-governmental organizations. The results revealed concern about permitted development as a whole, and about specified classes. Despite professed concerns about sustainable development, UK planning modernization has failed to grasp the opportunity for a radical and fundamental reform of the scope of UK planning control in the context of contemporary environmental issues. Accordingly, there remains an unresolved tension between the desire to remove unnecessary state regulation of land development and the protection of the natural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]