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From fossil fuel corporations sponsoring climate change education to youth‐washing international gatherings, young people are bombarded, and simultaneously abandoned, by struggles for climate justice. The root issues fuelling interlocking environmental and social crises are often erased in initiatives involving youth. These crises are a direct result of broader, structural conditions that have become the de facto global order and propel notions of sustainable development. In settler colonial contexts such as Canada, colonialism, capitalism and inequitable forms of violence mutually depend upon one another to perpetuate climate injustice. Youth are increasingly aware of these entanglements, while seemingly discouraged from transformative action. With these tensions in mind, this commentary investigates the obstacles youth face despite making key contributions to justice‐focused climate action, and draws attention to the necessity of strengthening meaningful youth engagement. To explore this issue, we engage with climate and environmental justice literature, youth‐led initiatives, and youth representation on a global stage. Young people are bombarded, and simultaneously abandoned, by struggles for climate justice. Yet, youth are increasingly aware of the root issues fuelling interlocking environmental and social crises despite their erasure in climate action initiatives. With these tensions in mind, this commentary investigates the obstacles youth face despite making key contributions to justice‐focused climate action, and draws attention to the necessity of strengthening meaningful youth engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New fossil fuel developments are inconsistent with keeping global warming below 1.5 °C, and while most climate policies focus on reducing demand for fossil fuels, an emerging transversal consensus promotes efforts to simultaneously reduce supply. In this article, we discuss the obstacles to effective supply-side climate policies posed by international investment treaties that protect corporations against state interventions through investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). We focus on two recently concluded ISDS cases (Rockhopper v Italy and Lone Pine v Canada) that concern prohibitions on fossil fuel development in ecologically sensitive areas. Italy was ordered to pay a British firm approximately € 250 million in compensation for a ban on offshore oil developments along the coastline, whereas Canada successfully defended Québec's ban on gas development in the St. Lawrence River. Arbitrators in both cases reasoned that investors should be compensated when oil and gas exploration permits are revoked (even if such a remedy is not available under domestic law) and expressed antipathy towards civic engagement in the policy process. As companies can seek lost future profits through ISDS, these cases show that the system can engender material costs for states enacting supply-side policies. The threat of ISDS can generate a chilling effect, limiting the potential for supply-side initiatives, particularly in the Global South. Initiators of global efforts to limit further fossil fuel developments must consider the obstacles posed by international investment treaties, support efforts to abolish ISDS, and as an interim measure, promote the interpretation of treaty protections in line with climate objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jurisdictions use an assortment of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Climate policy mixes have often evolved through the ad hoc layering of new policies onto an existing policy mix, rather than deliberate design of a complete policy portfolio. This can lead to unanticipated interactions between policies which can support or undermine policy objectives and is further complicated where climate policy is implemented at multiple jurisdictional levels. In the context of Canada and its four most populous provinces, we examine the development of climate policy mixes across jurisdictional levels between 2000 and 2020 and evaluate policy interactions. We develop an inventory of 184 climate policies, and examine each in terms of instrument type, implementation timing, technological specificity, and expected abatement. We evaluate interactions between overlapping policies both within jurisdictional levels (horizontal) and across jurisdictional levels (vertical) for their impact on emissions abatement using a policy coherence analysis framework. We find that subsidies and R&D funding were the most abundant policies (58%), although pricing and flexible regulation are expected to achieve the most abatement. Sub-national jurisdictions have often acted as policy pilots preceding federal policy implementation. We evaluate 356 policy interactions and find 74% are consistent in adding abatement. Less than 8% have a negative impact by reducing abatement, although vertical interactions between federal and provincial policies were more often negative (11%) than horizontal interactions at the federal (<3%) or provincial (<2%) levels. Although the impact of many interactions is unknown (13%), we generate interaction matrices as a foundational roadmap for future research, and for policy-makers to consider potential interactions when designing and assessing policy effectiveness. Key policy insights Climate policy mixes have expanded and diversified over the period 2000–2020 across jurisdictions in Canada. Sub-national jurisdictions have often acted as policy 'pilots' by implementing policy before the adoption of similar national level policy. Climate mitigation policy interactions are predominantly supportive toward achieving additional emissions abatement. Vertical interactions between federal and provincial policy can undermine the additionality of policy effort by sub-national jurisdictions. These findings emphasize the need for better coordination in climate policy mix design between national and sub-national jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canadian government recently oriented its foreign policy in a 'feminist' direction, including the launch of Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP). At the same time, the Trudeau government has also reoriented Canada's efforts to address climate change, ratifying the Paris Agreement in 2016. This article reviews Canada's Paris Agreement commitments, formalized in Canada's Nationally Determined Contributions and National Communications, through the lens of feminist analysis. While Canada has made significant efforts to mainstream gender into its climate commitments, these commitments emphasize a focus on women in the Global South and the reinforcement of common assumptions about women, climate change and development. In doing so, Canada's efforts to integrate gender into its global climate commitments overlook the realities of gender and climate change in the Global North, as well as areas in which feminist analysis is needed, specifically in technological development and strategies to mitigate climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Household air conditioning is one of the most effective approaches for reducing the health impacts of heat exposure; however, few studies have measured the prevalence of household air conditioning in Canada. Data and methods Data were obtained from the 2017 Canadian Community Health Survey and the 2017 Households and the Environment Survey. Statistics Canada linked the survey respondents and created survey weights. Four heat-vulnerable populations were defined: older adults, older adults living alone, older adults with at least one health condition associated with reduced thermoregulation and older adults living alone and with a health condition associated with reduced thermoregulation. Weighted ratios and logistic regression models were used to analyze person-level air conditioning rates for national, regional and heatvulnerable populations. Results Approximately 61% of the national population had household air conditioning. Regional rates ranged between 32% in British Columbia and 85% in Ontario. People living alone and people who did not own a home were significantly less likely to have air conditioning in Canada and in most regions. One heat vulnerable group, older adults living alone, had significantly lower air conditioning rates compared with the national and Ontario averages, at 56% and 81%, respectively. Interpretation This study is the first to quantify air conditioning prevalence in Canada at the person-level. The results of this study may inform heat-health policies and climate change adaptation strategies that aim to identify populations with high risks of heat-related mortality or morbidity and low access to household air conditioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant functional types (PFTs) are used to represent vegetation distribution in land surface models (LSMs). Previous studies have shown large differences in the geographical distribution of PFTs currently used in various LSMs, which may arise from the differences in the underlying land cover products but also the methods used to map or reclassify land cover data to the PFTs that a given LSM represents. There are large uncertainties associated with existing PFT mapping methods since they are largely based on expert judgement and therefore are subjective. In this study, we propose a new approach to inform the mapping or the cross-walking process using analyses from sub-pixel fractional error matrices, which allows for a quantitative assessment of the fractional composition of the land cover categories in a dataset. We use the Climate Change Initiative (CCI) land cover product produced by the European Space Agency (ESA). Previous work has shown that compared to fine-resolution maps over Canada, the ESA-CCI product provides an improved land cover distribution compared to that from the GLC2000 dataset currently used in the CLASSIC (Canadian Land Surface Scheme Including Biogeochemical Cycles) model. A tree cover fraction dataset and a fine-resolution land cover map over Canada are used to compute the sub-pixel fractional composition of the land cover classes in ESA-CCI, which is then used to create a cross-walking table for mapping the ESA-CCI land cover categories to nine PFTs represented in the CLASSIC model. There are large differences between the new PFT distributions and those currently used in the model. Offline simulations performed with the CLASSIC model using the ESA-CCI-based PFTs show improved winter albedo compared to that based on the GLC2000 dataset. This emphasizes the importance of accurate representation of vegetation distribution for realistic simulation of surface albedo in LSMs. Results in this study suggest that the sub-pixel fractional composition analyses are an effective way to reduce uncertainties in the PFT mapping process and therefore, to some extent, objectify the otherwise subjective process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic emerged against the backdrop of the longer-term climate change crisis and increasing global awareness of the imperative for climate action, disrupting the post-Paris trajectory of climate policy and media coverage of climate change. We examine news media coverage from Canadian legacy newspapers and answer three questions. First, did the COVID-19 pandemic work as a critical event in its impacts on news media coverage of climate change, and if so, in what ways? Second, did media framing of climate change shift in response to this critical event, and if so, in what ways? Third, are there notable differences between national and subnational media frames? We find that COVID-19 is a critical event linked to a period of reduced media coverage of climate change. However, this critical event also opened new spaces for news framing that connects environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how unique audience segments within the Canadian population think and act toward climate change, and explores whether and how the level of audience engagement moderates the effect of various messages on support for climate policy. Drawing on a random probability sample of Canadian residents (N = 1207) conducted in October 2017, we first identify and describe five distinct audiences that vary in their attitudes, perceptions and behaviours with respect to climate change: the Alarmed (25%), Concerned (45%), Disengaged (5%), Doubtful (17%) and Dismissive (8%). We then explore how each segment responds to different messages about carbon pricing in Canada. We find that messages alluding to earmarking (i.e., "Invest in solutions") or leveling the playing field for alternative energy sources (i.e., "Relative price") increase support for a higher carbon price among the population as a whole. However, these messages decreased support for carbon pricing among more engaged audiences (e.g., Alarmed) when a low carbon price was specified to the respondent. Meanwhile, the "Relative price" is the only message that increased policy support among less engaged audiences–the Concerned and the Doubtful. In addition to highlighting the importance of tailoring and targeting messages for differently engaged segments, these results suggest that communicating around the specific consequences of carbon taxes for the prices of some goods may be a fruitful way to enhance support for carbon taxes among relatively less engaged audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the puzzle of Norway and Canada, two countries that have adopted ambitious Paris Agreement targets yet are also major fossil fuel exporters. To date, both countries have taken full advantage of the international convention that assigns responsibility only for emissions within a country's borders. However, climate activists, First Nations, and green politicians increasingly have challenged fossil fuel production via campaigns centered on issues salient to voters in nonproducing regions: opposing new exploration licenses in Norway and pipelines in Canada. While supply-side campaigns have sometimes succeeded in ending expansion, neither country has seriously entertained restricting current production. We attribute these outcomes to continued public support for fossil fuel–driven prosperity; institutions that assign responsibility for production and climate to different government agencies; and the success of counternarratives that unilateral supply restrictions are futile, prosperity from petroleum exports will fund domestic clean-energy transitions, and gas exports advance global climate action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disaster risk reduction is central to managing the risks of climate change at global, national, and sub-national levels. The operationalization of disaster risk reduction, however, has been met with challenges that have restricted successful policy implementation. Drawing from document analyses and Delphi studies with government practitioners, this article examines the policy context for disaster risk reduction in Canada and Australia and investigates the state of flood and drought planning and preparedness. Results are organized around two central themes: risk (ownership and sensitivity) and engagement (stakeholder involvement and capacity-building). The findings show that public policies on disaster risk reduction in Canada and Australia reflect international discourse that advocates for a whole-of-society, risk-sensitive, and risk-informed approach. However, implementing this approach in household planning and preparedness, cross-sector planning and policy integration, terminology, and socio-cultural representation, has been hampered by several factors. Government practitioners in both countries argued that while disaster risk reduction and climate risk management continue to evolve in multi-level governance, policy implementation is constrained by the legacies of past governance arrangements that have enabled disaster risk creation and accumulation. The results presented herein suggest a need for institutional reform that better reflects the holistic and systemic relationships between disaster risk, climate change, and other policy problems. We argue that disaster risk reduction and climate risk management policies require bridging governance arrangements between these and related policy domains to foster effective multi-level implementation. Key policy insights Implementing disaster risk reduction has been inconsistent, exacerbating exposure to climate change and increasing socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster impacts. Managing climate and disaster risk requires a holistic approach that targets vulnerable groups, tackles underlying drivers of risk, and builds capacities to support disaster risk reduction. Although disaster risk reduction and climate risk management policies continue to evolve, implementation is hindered by legacy governance arrangements that favour economic growth over sustainable, climate-sensitive disaster risk management. Transformation through the integration of disaster risk reduction and human development offers potential pathways to reduce vulnerabilities via a holistic disaster risk and climate policy approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global human influence on the climate is growing at an alarming pace. This trend appears doomed to continue. Polar regions are feeling the effects first. This means that if the impacts of climate change serve to motivate effective policies, polar regions could be a good place to look for climate policy innovation. It is within this context that this article considers Arctic climate policy in Russia and Canada. The basic question posed is whether the unique and immediate threat climate change presents in the Arctic is reflected in progressive laws and policies with respect to four key areas: mitigation, adaptation, impacts and vulnerability, and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of forests in national climate policies of two countries very rich in woods: Russia and Canada. Canada has made efforts to reduce direct CO2 emissions in the national economy, intensify forestry, and increase greenhouse gas sequestration by forests. Russia focuses on the verification and recalculation of the carbon sequestration capacity of its forests. Analysis of the Russian and Canadian stationary models used to assess the carbon sequestration capacity of forests (ROBUL and CBM-CFS, respectively) shows that both the Canadian model and the Russian one derived from it reflect the stationary dynamics of forest stands, which inevitably results in a downward CO2 absorption trend. Even if the forest inventory is updated on a regular basis, the predictive components of such models are unable to take into account the variability of forest ecosystems and their adaptation to climate change. Models that describe global carbon fluxes (e.g., ones using FLUXNET and remote sensing data) provide significantly higher net carbon sequestration values and indicate a nondecreasing net carbon accumulation trend in forests. It is concluded that stationary and remote sensing models should be used together to assess net carbon sequestration and formulate key principles of national climate policies in countries rich in forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that Canadian climate policy under the Trudeau government is both self-defeating and immoral. Focusing on the central facet of the government's strategy – which trades a small carbon price for significant expansions of oil pipelines – the paper develops this argument in three principal ways. First, it situates the strategy in relation to the global warming potential of new extracted/exported emissions facilitated by new pipelines, which would overwhelm the savings created by the carbon price. Second, the paper focuses on the policy's potential to exacerbate a perilous national accumulation strategy that leaves workers and communities highly vulnerable to unstable global commodity markets. Finally, it situates the policy in relation to a centuries-old process of colonial theft of Indigenous lands to facilitate extractive development. The paper closes by considering what an environmentally sound and morally just Canadian climate policy would look like along eco-socialist lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local perspectives can conflict with national and international climate targets. This study explores three stakeholder (community, provincial, and federal) perspectives on the Alberta oil sands as risks for a sustainability transition in Canada. In an ex-post analysis, we compared outputs from stakeholder consultations and energy-economy models. Our research shows that different local stakeholders groups disregarded some policy risks for the Alberta oil sands and Canadian energy transition. These stakeholders expected the sector to grow, despite increasing environmental penalties and external market pressures. The study revealed that blind-spots on risks, or "risk blindness", increased as stakeholders became less certain about policy climate goals. We argue that "risk blindness" could be amplified by dominant institutional narratives that contradict scientific research and international climate policy. Strategies that integrate local narratives, considered as marginalized, provide perspectives beyond emission reductions and are essential for meeting climate targets while supporting a just transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper aims to respond to three questions: Are Canadian organizations committed to sustainability? Are there any links between sustainability and records management and archives programs? And, to what extent are records managers, archivists and technologists engaged in climate action? The paper also provides background on climate change in the Canadian and global contexts, defines relevant terminology, and presents a literature review that positions sustainability, adaptation and mitigation in relation to records management and archives. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on qualitative participatory research involving expert interviews in 24 government agencies, universities and businesses located in 10 Canadian cities. Findings: The organizations in the study are committed to sustainability and have developed significant programs and activities in support of this aim. Although the records managers, archivists and technologists interviewed are involved in related activities, there is a gap between what they are doing as a matter of course and the wider sustainability efforts of their parent organizations. As resources are tight, sustainability measurement entails more work and there are no real incentives to add sustainability components to programs, the participants are focused on delivering the programs they are hired to do. As a result, there is a sense of serendipity around outcomes that do occur – "sometimes, green is the outcome". Research limitations/implications: This paper presents the results of research conducted at 24 organizations in 10 Canadian cities, a small but meaningful sample that provides a springboard for considering climate action in records and archives. Based on the discussion, there is a need for a records and archives agenda that directly responds the United Nation's climate action targets: strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters; integrating climate change measures into policies, strategies and planning; and improving education, awareness-raising and human institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning. In support of this aim, the paper charts possible material topics from the literature and compares these with research findings. Practical implications: From a top-down perspective, organizations need to expand sustainability programs to address all business areas, including records and archives. From a bottom-up perspective, records managers and archivists should include adaptation in disaster planning and consider the program benefits of developing economic, environmental and social sustainability initiatives to mitigate climate change. Originality/value: The paper defines resilience, sustainability, adaption and mitigation and positions these terms in records management and archives. The paper examines how records managers, archivists and technologists think about sustainability; where sustainability intersects with records and archives work; and how records managers and archivists can engage in climate action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018, two studies were conducted by Canada's Parliament on the connections between climate change and agriculture. Links between grazing management and climate change adaptation and mitigation are included in the testimonies gathered during these studies but the resulting final reports are silent on the topic. Analysis of 112 parliamentary files revealed insights on (1) the knowledge about grazing management that was omitted from the two final reports, (2) the social contexts that informed the processes of hearing testimonies and developing the reports, and (3) the underlying ideologies and normative assumptions reflected in these studies. Overall, the current state of policy regarding climate change and agriculture emphasizes technical, scientific, and expensive solutions, and as a result, the benefits of grazing management are overlooked. We argue transformations toward sustainable, climate adaptive agriculture require an ongoing examination of how political structures, knowledge hierarchies, and underlying ideologies inform and narrow policy outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we analyze how media coverage for environmental actors (individual environmental activists and environmental movement organizations) is associated with their perceived policy influence in Canadian climate change policy networks. We conceptualize media coverage as the total number of media mentions an actor received in Canada's two main national newspapers--the Globe and Mail and National Post. We conceptualize perceived policy influence as the total number of times an actor was nominated by other actors in a policy network as being perceived to be influential in domestic climate change policy making in Canada. Literature from the field of social movements, agenda setting, and policy networks suggests that environmental actors who garner more media coverage should be perceived as more influential in policy networks than actors who garner less coverage. We assess support for this main hypothesis in two ways. First, we analyze how actor attributes (such as the type of actor) are associated with the amount of media coverage an actor receives. Second, we evaluate whether being an environmental actor shapes the association between media coverage and perceived policy influence. We find a negative association between media coverage and perceived policy influence for individual activists, but not for environmental movement organizations. This case raises fundamental theoretical questions about the nature of relations between media and policy spheres, and the efficacy of media for signaling and mobilizing policy influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pressure to change agricultural practices in order to mitigate emissions is high, with persisting environmental, social, and economic dimensions. In December 2020, the Government of Canada released A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy , a climate plan that proposed Canada's first national emission reduction target for the agricultural sector. This target aimed to reduce fertilizer-based emissions by 30 percent of 2020 levels by 2030. This target relies on the adoption of Best Management Practices for fertilizer use at the on-farm level. Choice to adopt the emission reduction strategies and practices is ultimately decided by the landowner, operator, and/or producer. The proposed target was met with significant resistance opposition from producers and producer groups across Canada's agricultural sector, particularly in western Canada, with claims that the target was the equivalent to a ban on fertilizer. This research aims to better understand the attitudes and perceptions towards the emission reduction target and more generally around emissions mitigation strategies within the crop sectors. This report takes a qualitative approach by conducting 26 h-long interviews with stakeholders along the production chain. Interviews with producers, geneticists, actors in crop inputs and manufacturing, and stakeholders in agricultural production policy and advocacy were conducted over July and August 2022. Participants were asked questions about climate change, the role of different levels of government in the development of emission regulations, potential strategies on a short- and long-term horizon basis, and incentives. Interviews were transcribed and categorically defined, highlighting reoccurring themes. These themes provide insight into awareness of different strategies considered by different actors within the agricultural supply chain, and potentially anticipate avenues which the Government of Alberta should prioritize in developing policies. Ensuring future protocols account for benchmarks of current agricultural operations and management is critical for accessible and producer-inclusive policy, that optimizes transition risks and secures the pathway forward, balancing the precarious equilibrium of burden on agricultural producers, food security, and sustainable, resilient agriculture. • Significant disconnect between government objectives and on-farm operations. • Require re-investment in agricultural extension programs and services. • A need to demonstrate the benefits of adopting certain on-farm strategies. • Need to re-establish trust in the relationship between government and producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the challenges at the nexus of Canada's energy and climate change policies. Topics include the land treaties with indigenous peoples, implementation strategy for emission reduction known as the Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, which focuses on reductions in the energy sectors of oil and gas production, transportation and electricity, and research themes and implications for sustainability science.

The article explores the national climate policy of Canada under the administration of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It reviews whether Trudeau's federal strategy to combat climate change would materialize after the government launched the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change involving provincial, territorial and federal governments. The impact of several oil pipeline and liquefied natural gas plant projects on the country's climate policy is discussed, as well as the effect of the limits of federalism on regional and economic interests.

• Simulates uptake of private light-duty automated vehicles (AVs) and GHG impacts. • Consumer uptake of AVs ranges from 15% to 36% of new market share by 2035. • Full availability of AVs leads to a small increase in GHG emissions. • GHGs increase mainly due to increased vehicle travel (VKT) and reduced zero-emission vehicle sales. • Strong climate policy (regulation or tax) can still reduce AV emissions. The future of privately owned, fully automated vehicles (AVs) is highly uncertain, especially the impacts to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We simulate the impacts of climate policy on AV uptake in Canada's light-duty vehicle sector and the corresponding GHG emissions, including changes to efficiency, vehicle kilometre travelled (VKT), and zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) sales. We use a technology adoption model which includes consumer preferences and endogenous learning, while also representing automaker decisions. In scenarios where AVs become fully available for sale in 2025, consumer uptake ranges from 15% to 36% new market share by 2035--some of which displace ZEV sales. With or without strong climate policy, the availability of AVs leads to a small increase in GHG emissions, largely due to increased VKT per vehicle and among new user groups. However, enactment of a strong carbon price or ZEV sales mandate can still substantially reduce emissions in the AV scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes four basic points about movement toward a low carbon economy in Canada: first, that it is important for political leaders, policy analysts, and researchers to approach the issue in terms of a transition to a carbon-emission–free society; second, that in Canada the development of regional pathways to a low-carbon economy is crucial; third, that we need ‘‘green development strategies’’ if we are to maximize the opportunities presented by this transition; and finally, that we should think about low-carbon politics as well as low-carbon economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explains the findings of the MC3 Project (Meeting the Climate Change Challenge). This project brought together over 100 researchers, practitioners, civil-society leaders, and policy-makers, led by researchers from Royal Roads University, Simon Fraser University, and the University of British Columbia, with 12 major research partners from the public and private sectors, including the Union of British Columbia municipalities. Researchers conducted a detailed evaluation of 11 leading, yet different, municipalities across the province to identify the leading innovators and innovations on climate action. The case studies revealed the following key drivers of innovation, in order of prominence: the legislative and policy framework, supported by provincially led incentives and tools, access to partnership funding and intermediary support, and framing the issue as critically important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of recent regulatory and legislative developments of interest to energy lawyers. This includes the legal, political, and economic background to, and consequences of, new legislation and regulatory regimes. This also includes discussions of recent and ongoing judicial and regulatory decisions involving energy law. Topics discussed include market access, environmental and climate change regulation, Aboriginal consultation, and utilities regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors discuss the implications of the Liberal Party majority in 2015 for Canadian climate policy. Topics covered include the failure of previous Canadian governments to address climate, factors that may help Canada develop a system of managing climate policy that is systematic and wide-ranging, and the impact of the petroleum industry on the development of climate policy.

The article discusses several aspects of the Canadian government's climate change strategy as of 2015, and it mentions trends involving Canada's environmental laws, as well as information about climate change litigation and petitions to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Links between national news outlets (Globe and Mail and National Post) and climate-change discourse are examined in order better to understand the cultural politics of Canadian involvement in climate governance. National news media use a narrow range of issue categories to interpret climate change to the public. Both news outlets also privilege national and international political spheres, with less attention to climate governance at the sub-national level. However, there are important differences between them. The Globe and Mail tends to focus on government responsibility, while the National Post tends to focus on climate science and the economic costs of addressing climate change. Four key periods (1999, 2002, 2006, and 2010) are examined in order to trace shifts in climate-change discourse. There has been a shift towards greater issue complexity over time, coupled with a growing polarisation of climate discourse across the two national news outlets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the perceptions of policy makers and rural agricultural producers in respect of policy framing and adaptation to climate change, social learning and stakeholder input (participation) surrounding two successful agri-environmental programmes in Saskatchewan, Canada. Given the record of success of these two programmes in reducing vulnerability to climate change, this study provides an opportunity to explore certain attributes of adaptive management, including: what attributes make policy and programmes responsive; how government can frame programmes facilitating adaptation to climate change; what types of mechanisms can or should be used to engage with producers; and perhaps most importantly, what producers expect of government, government policies and programmes in relation to adaptation to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue represents an assessment of international organizations and transboundary networks governing natural resource and biodiversity issues in and among Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The management of natural resources and protection of biodiversity is a highly technocratic process requiring collaboration and information sharing among a diversity of actors to facilitate the development and coordination of policy addressing complex and multisectoral issues. Numerous bilateral and trilateral organizations exist to ostensibly facilitate transboundary governance, yet the scholarly knowledge of their respective roles has many gaps. In this introductory article, we propose a typology of international environmental organizations based on two dimensions: (1) whether their activities center primarily on capacity building or regulation, and (2) the extent to which they exemplify the 'bureaucratic' or 'post-bureaucratic' model of governance. Using this typology we provide an overview of the special issue's contributions in terms of their assessment of North American bilateral and trilateral environmental organizations and transboundary networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse whether and how six regional partnerships catalyse innovations in climate adaptation policies in Canada and England. The relatively rare and underexplored adaptation partnerships are collaborative arrangements in which governmental, business, and civil society actors strive to facilitate adaptation to climate change. Representing new political spaces, partnerships are expected to produce more innovative policies than hierarchies do. We find that the partnerships catalyse policy innovations in three distinct ways: through collaboration among the partners, through scaling up their activities beyond the partnerships, and by supporting national adaptation politics. However, the instrumental portfolio of the policy innovations is limited. It primarily comprises informational policies (e.g. guidelines), strategies, and plans (usually non-binding). Regarding innovation mechanisms, the analysis highlights the importance of collaboration and learning. Although there is a risk that partnerships will become talking shops, we conclude that, thus far, they support policymakers in tackling the challenges of an emerging policy field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada’s climate change strategy faces an uncertain future since the country’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol in 2011, making domestic public debate and awareness critical in the search for effective mitigation policies. This article presents a spatio-temporal analysis of newspaper reporting across Canada on climate change and carbon reduction approaches, ranging from renewable energies (solar, wind, hydro power) to carbon management (e.g., carbon capture and storage [CCS]) and economic approaches (e.g., carbon trade, ecological fiscal reform). The findings of a news article keyword analysis show that the overall growth of the Canadian news coverage during this time period was significantly fragmented into isolated peaks of activity rather than continuous growth of the topic of climate change. Furthermore, the study finds a strong news emphasis on technology- and growth-oriented solutions as opposed to a comprehensive ecological modernization that would encourage a deeper structural discussion about Canada’s much-criticized carbon-intensive energy economy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Governments are increasingly using public-private partnerships (P3s) to draw the private sector into more active participation in infrastructure development. Climate action initiatives have not typically yielded profitable results for the private sector, and might therefore constrain the placing of conditions by governments on P3 arrangements. This article investigates a major P3 infrastructure project in British Columbia - the Canada Line extension to Vancouver's urban rail transit network - and concludes that the P3 organization did not constrain the government's capacity to pursue policy objectives for climate action. This counterintuitive result occurred because public sector leadership enabled an effective engagement with environmental policy priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the effectiveness of the international climate regime. Topics discussed include Canada's withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol; ways in which international law can influence state behavior; concerns about the impact of the international regime; and influence of the international climate regime in Canada.

Energy-economy models play an increasingly important role in informing climate policy decisions, yet their results lack consistency in terms of projected greenhouse gas emissions and economic impacts. The paper employs a scoping review of the key improvements, knowledge gaps, and critiques of energy-economy models in the academic, public, private, and not-for-profit sectors in Canada over the past ten years. The three objectives are to (1) identify the key energy-economy modelling assessment criteria, (2) develop an inventory of energy-economy models assessed against the criteria in objective 1, and (3) discuss implications for modelling climate policies. Four criteria for assessing the ability of energy-economy models to evaluate climate policy impacts are identified: treatment of technology, microeconomic realism, macroeconomic realism, and policy representation. The assessment of 21 models against these criteria reveals similarities and differences across models. Models that share similarities in over-arching methodological approaches are also similar in the way they represent technologies, market heterogeneity, trade effects, different policy types, and energy equilibrium. Conversely, there are quite diverse approaches used in the representation of technological change, non-financial decision factors, financial or monetary features, and non-energy equilibrium. Model documentation does not often address how policy interaction is taken into account. Based on this assessment, implications for climate policy modelling and future research are discussed. • Climate policy projections vary across energy-economy models. • A scoping literature review compares energy-economy models in Canada's public and private sectors. • Four key criteria are identified for evaluating energy-economy models. • The review reveals similarities and differences across models. • Implications for climate policy modelling are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) is being adopted for systematic use in cost-benefit analysis (CBA) conducted by the Government of Canada. Although there are potential efficiency gains from its application, we argue that the SCC may be inappropriate for use in CBA for three reasons. First, as currently calculated, the SCC typically excludes the potential for catastrophes and certain types of climate damages, and assumes perfect substitutability between natural and human capital. For these reasons, it is likely to be biased downwards, and as such would provide misleading advice to policy-makers. Second, the SCC is a global measure of benefits, whereas standard practice in CBA is to include only domestic costs and benefits. Accounting for costs borne outside of Canada and along only one dimension (carbon damage) risks reducing economic efficiency and confusing the users of CBA studies. Third, SCC-based decision-making is unlikely to be consistent with Canadian commitments to international partners on emissions reductions; so its adoption risks institutionalizing non-delivery of those commitments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the prospects for US state and Canadian provincial climate policy innovation and diffusion are limited in several respects. Subnational climate leaders tend already to be the cleanest states and provinces, and even they have been strategic in the sectors they regulate and the instruments they employ. In some cases, this selectivity appears to be motivated by opportunities to shift compliance costs to other states. Efforts to pool risks through state and provincial collaboration also are flagging in the wake of the Canadian and US federal governments' failure to adopt nation-wide policies to level the playing field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the infrastructure policy sector's capacity to respond to climate change adaptation through an analysis of the Canadian case. It includes a three-level examination of capacity: at the macro level through a virtual policy network analysis; at the meso level through examination of the lead department's evolving mandate and resources; and at the micro level through analysis of survey data related to departmental workers policy tasks and attitudes. Four hypotheses across these three levels are set out and tested at the national and subnational levels. Together, the findings suggest that the policy capacity in the Canadian infrastructure sector will be unable to meet the demands placed upon the sector to respond to the increasing challenges of climate change adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constitutional and institutional legacies were combined to create a very decentralized forest policy sector in Canada. Where coherent policy requires a national response-as is the case with adaptation to climate change-the critical challenge is to locate the relevant decentralized policy capacity and steer it toward meeting national objectives. While there is some evidence that significant policy capacity exists in provincial forest and resource management departments, climate change adaptation has led to an expansion of departmental mandates that is not being addressed by better coordination of the available policy capacity. The relevant federal agencies are not well represented in information networks and forest policy workers report lower levels of internal and external networking than workers in related policy subsectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue contributes to extant empirical scholarship assessing governmental capacity to meet significant policy challenges, in this case those related to climate change adaptation. The study includes detailed examination of five policy sectors-finance, infrastructure, energy, forestry, and transportation-in two countries, Canada and the United States-in order to determine what kinds of governance arrangements and analytical capacities exist in this area, how they are changing (if at all), and how they interrelate with the status and evolution of climate change outcomes in each sector. The articles provide a comprehensive sampling of policy network structure and behavior, organizational mandates and resources, and actual job duties and training of policy actors across these sectors at both the federal and subnational level of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When pursuing change, legacies of policy goals and instruments from an established paradigm often present constraints on fully embracing a newer paradigm, resulting in the layering of new policy goals and instruments on top of the existing base. In this article, we investigate the effect of layered paradigms on policy capacity at three different levels of policy making in the Canadian transportation sector. Using analysis of government publications and budget data, virtual policy network analysis, quantitative analysis of data from a survey of Canadian policy analysts, and direct interviews with policy managers in two provinces, we demonstrate how this layering of legacy goals (and consequent policy incapacity) is occurring at the macro, meso, and micro levels of policy making. We conclude that the layering of a new policy paradigm for climate change on top of the established paradigm for transportation development constrains policy capacity in this subsystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines policy capacity in relation to climate change adaptation in the Canadian finance sector. Through a meso-level analysis focused on the level of integration of the finance policy network and a survey of policy professionals in the area regarding climate change issues, the article illustrates both challenges to operationalizing the concept of 'policy capacity' and limitations to effective policy capacity on climate change in this policy domain. Though a central concern for governments, improvements in policy capacity require more attention to network integration and governance arrangements if governments are to effectively respond to the unique challenges posed by climate change adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on how the European Union (EU) has responded to climate change adaptation and mitigation and how a similar approach can be taken by the government in British Columbia. The authors explain that most mitigation efforts around the world have failed to reverse global warming, causing a great need for adaptation policies. They discuss the importance of trans-municipal efforts to address climate change, explore how local and federal governments in the EU are working together on this issue, and analyze policy programs implemented by the British Columbia Ministry of Environment.

The article discusses the relationship between the law and climate change in the Arctic region as of July 2012, focusing on the jurisdictional issues associated with melting ice, including the Canadian government's incremental increase in the number of military forces present in the Arctic region. Canada's attempt to regulate shipping in the Arctic region through the implementation of a mandatory Polar Code with the International Maritime Organization is also examined.