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The Political Economy of Coal Policy: Comparative Analyses of Stakeholder Strategies and Resource Industries' Embeddedness in the International Economy.
Type
applied research project
Start Date
01 October 2019
End Date
30 September 2021
Acronym
COALSTAKE
Status
ongoing
Description
Coal-fuelled power generation is the single largest source of CO₂ emissions worldwide. In order to fulfil the 2016 Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting the increase in global average temperature to below 2℃, over 80% of the world’s coal reserves must remain unused. Therefore, many countries are considering adopting policies to reduce the use of coal and its mining. This project aims to reveal why some countries have opted for phase-out policies, whereas some others have not even included the issue on their political agenda.
These differences cannot be explained only by country-level factors, such as the economic development level, coal reserves, trade patterns or the number of interest groups advocating for environmental protection. This project thus pays attention to the interests, goals and activities of different policy actors.
The project asks the following questions:
– What are the key energy stakeholders’ interests related to coal and what coalitions emerge among them?
– Why are some actors more influential than others in translating their interests into policy outcomes?
– What lessons can countries draw from coal policy trajectories in other countries?
Conceptually, the project will first bring the relevant theories from different disciplines together. Subsequently, the research team will analyze the links among energy stakeholders’ resource endowments, their policy-related activities and the evolution of discourses around coal energy.
These analyses include a special emphasis on the role and the abilities of local resource -production industries, their positioning in global resource trade and their employees.
These differences cannot be explained only by country-level factors, such as the economic development level, coal reserves, trade patterns or the number of interest groups advocating for environmental protection. This project thus pays attention to the interests, goals and activities of different policy actors.
The project asks the following questions:
– What are the key energy stakeholders’ interests related to coal and what coalitions emerge among them?
– Why are some actors more influential than others in translating their interests into policy outcomes?
– What lessons can countries draw from coal policy trajectories in other countries?
Conceptually, the project will first bring the relevant theories from different disciplines together. Subsequently, the research team will analyze the links among energy stakeholders’ resource endowments, their policy-related activities and the evolution of discourses around coal energy.
These analyses include a special emphasis on the role and the abilities of local resource -production industries, their positioning in global resource trade and their employees.
Leader contributor(s)
Member contributor(s)
Wild, Heinrich-Jakob
Kern, Natalie
Partner(s)
Universität Basel
University of Toronto
Funder(s)
Range
HSG + other universities + partners
Range (De)
HSG + andere Unis + Partner
Principal
Swiss Network for International Studies
Division(s)
Eprints ID
247918
5 results
Now showing
1 - 5 of 5
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PublicationBlack coal, thin ice: the discursive legitimisation of Australian coal in the age of climate change(Springer Nature, 2021-07-22)
;Stutzer, Roman ;Oliveira, Thiago ;Mendes Loureiro, Pedro ;Kachi, AyaDuygan, MertType: journal articleJournal: Humanities and Social Sciences CommunicationsVolume: 8 -
PublicationFrom terminating to transforming: The role of phase-out in sustainability transitionsPhase-out is rapidly gaining traction as a central part of practical efforts to address sustainability challenges. However, the way it has been conceived of in policy debates and some academic work is problematic in that it (1) tends to be narrowly focused on substitution; (2) underexposes the bi-directional relationship between phase-outs and innovation; and (3) pays insufficient attention to political challenges. To fully reap the potential of phase-out in sustainability transitions, we call for a more integrative body of scholarship. We identify three important avenues to advance this agenda: First, shifting the unit of analysis to socio-technical systems and the reconfiguration of entire regimes will help to elucidate the multiple logics underlying phase-outs. Second, deepening insights on the timing and interaction between phase-out and innovation will unveil the potential of phase-outs in accelerating transitions. Finally, engaging with issues of power, political legitimacy, and equity is required to mitigate political challenges.Type: journal articleJournal: Environmental Innovation and Societal TransitionsVolume: 41
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PublicationAnalyzing transitions through the lens of discourse networks: Coal phase-out in GermanyDiscourse analysis is gaining attention in transition studies. This paper uses discourse network analysis (DNA) to study how discourse coalitions, and the storylines they mobilize, change over time. Drawing from archival data of two daily newspapers, we analyze the struggle over coal phase-out in Germany (2000–2020). We identify an anti-coal discourse coalition, which was stable and ideationally congruent over time. It used climate change as the dominant storyline to delegitimize coal. The phase-out policy decision in 2020 can be interpreted as the success of this coalition. The pro-coal coalition, in contrast, was more dispersed and less consistent in their arguments. Nonetheless, it was able to institutionalize some of its key storylines in the final policies. We argue that DNA is a powerful tool we can mobilize in sustainability transitions research for the study of politics and beyond.Type: journal articleJournal: Environmental Innovation and Societal TransitionsVolume: 40
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PublicationIntroducing the Endowment-Practice-Institutions (EPI) framework for studying agency in the institutional contestation of socio-technical regimesA timely transition of socio-technical systems to more sustainable alternatives is crucial in mitigating climate change and other environmental problems. While innovation plays a significant role in such transitions, policy makers and the scientific community have become increasingly aware that the deliberate destabilization of existing socio-technical regimes—including associated institutions and technologies—is also often necessary. However, such aspiration is politically contested. This paper presents the Endowment-Practice-Institutions (EPI) Framework to study the contestation of institutions underpinning socio-technical regimes. By integrating key theories from Institutional Sociology and Political Economy, the framework conceives actors’ capability of influencing institutional structures to be dependent on their institutional work practices and the various endowments that enable these practices. We present Japanese coal policy as an example to illustrate how the framework can be used to assess actors’ institutional work and their influence on institutional outcomes. In addition to providing new theoretical insights, the framework helps to systematically analyze agency-driven mechanisms pertinent for the maintenance or destabilization of socio-technical regimes.Type: journal articleJournal: Journal of Cleaner ProductionVolume: 296
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Publication
Scopus© Citations 72