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Global coal use must be phased out if we are to minimize temperature increases associated with climate change. Most new coal plants are being built in the Asia Pacific and rely on overseas finance, with Indonesia and Vietnam the leading recipients. However, the politics of coal plant finance are changing, with many projects cancelled in recent years. This article explores the factors that led to coal plant cancellations in Vietnam and Indonesia. Based on new data of coal plant finance and elite interviews, we find fuel switching, public opposition, and national planning were the dominant reasons for cancellations in Vietnam, while Indonesia’s reasons were more diverse. Vietnam also had a larger number of cancellations than Indonesia, which has a more entrenched domestic coal mining sector. These findings suggest that Vietnam is farther along the coal phaseout agenda than Indonesia. We further provide provisional explanations for these patterns.

This chapter addresses the question: Who are the Departmental Secretaries who construct the craft public administration? The chapter explores who these public actors are and how a range of factors such as their demographic backgrounds, their membership of a specific culture, how they were recruited into the public sector, as well as the dispositions, behaviours and principles deemed necessary for employment in this sector influence the way they constitute the craft of public administration.

The chapter addresses the importance of public administration as constituted by Departmental Secretaries and the contribution that public administration makes to the delivery of public services, for and on behalf of the Australian Government, to serve the peoples of Australia. The suitability or otherwise of the new public management (NPM) for the public sector and its administration and the consequences of trying to impose managerialism on this sector are discussed. The institutionalised, governmental, bureaucratic and political domain of the public sector is fundamentally different to the discretional, innovative, entrepreneurial and managerial- oriented logic of the private sector and hence the NPM reforms for public administration are deemed inappropriate.

This chapter addresses the question: how does the environment and context of the public sector in which Departmental Secretaries practise shape their public administration craft? Australia’s Commonwealth public administration is situated within a number of intersecting and complex environments that include a political environment; a constitutional, legislative and regulatory environment; a financial environment, and a modern media environment. To a considerable extent, the environmental influences on Australia’s Public Service ensure that public administration is somewhat circumscribed and prescribed. While these are contrary to the notions of entrepreneurial and innovative activities proposed through much of the public sector reform literature, such as the New Public Administration (NPM), they are the reality of public sector life.

This chapter addresses: How do Departmental Secretaries construct or perceive their roles and responsibilities in the context of continuing reforms? In executing their roles and responsibilities, Departmental Secretaries navigate a plurality of activities on a spectrum spanning rational-instrumental work at one end and political-interpretive work at the other end. Departmental Secretaries are ‘boundary riders’ who constitute public administration in a rational-instrumental transactional manner on some occasions, while, on others they are drawn into the political arena.

This chapter addresses: how have contemporary management ideas influenced Departmental Secretaries and their work? Public sector reforms inspired by contemporary management ideas, were widely regarded as unsuitable for the public sector. Some NPM ideas underpinning reforms, when they travelled, appear to have been translated, transferred and transformed, to suit the public actors, their places of work and their activities. Contemporary management ideas and public sector reforms enter the APS through sponsorship by the government of the day and Departmental Secretaries of the top four central departments of the APS. The disposition of such parties and where ideas are deemed to ‘fit’ the existing public sector, will determine acceptance, adoption, promotion or rejection of ideas and reforms.

Net anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) must approach zero by mid-century (2050) in order to stabilize the global mean temperature at the level targeted by international efforts1–5. Yet continued expansion of fossil-fuel-burning energy infrastructure implies already ‘committed’ future CO2 emissions6–13. Here we use detailed datasets of existing fossil-fuel energy infrastructure in 2018 to estimate regional and sectoral patterns of committed CO2 emissions, the sensitivity of such emissions to assumed operating lifetimes and schedules, and the economic value of the associated infrastructure. We estimate that, if operated as historically, existing infrastructure will cumulatively emit about 658 gigatonnes of CO2 (with a range of 226 to 1,479 gigatonnes CO2, depending on the lifetimes and utilization rates assumed). More than half of these emissions are predicted to come from the electricity sector; infrastructure in China, the USA and the 28 member states of the European Union represents approximately 41 per cent, 9 per cent and 7 per cent of the total, respectively. If built, proposed power plants (planned, permitted or under construction) would emit roughly an extra 188 (range 37–427) gigatonnes CO2. Committed emissions from existing and proposed energy infrastructure (about 846 gigatonnes CO2) thus represent more than the entire carbon budget that remains if mean warming is to be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C) with a probability of 66 to 50 per cent (420–580 gigatonnes CO2)5, and perhaps two-thirds of the remaining carbon budget if mean warming is to be limited to less than 2 °C (1,170–1,500 gigatonnes CO2)5. The remaining carbon budget estimates are varied and nuanced14,15, and depend on the climate target and the availability of large-scale negative emissions16. Nevertheless, our estimates suggest that little or no new CO2-emitting infrastructure can be commissioned, and that existing infrastructure may need to be retired early (or be retrofitted with carbon capture and storage technology) in order to meet the Paris Agreement climate goals17. Given the asset value per tonne of committed emissions, we suggest that the most cost-effective premature infrastructure retirements will be in the electricity and industry sectors, if non-emitting alternatives are available and affordable4,18. A comprehensive assessment of ‘committed’ carbon dioxide emissions—from existing and proposed fossil-fuel-based infrastructure—finds that these emissions may exceed the level required to keep global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius.

This paper examines the use of lawsuits against three industries that were eventually found to be selling products damaging to human heath and the environment: lead paint, asbestos, and fossil fuels. These industries are similar in that some companies tried to hide or distort information showing their products were harmful. Common law claims were eventually filed to hold the corporations accountable and compensate the injured. This paper considers the important role the lawsuits played in helping establish some accountability for the industries while also noting the limitations of the lawsuits. It will be argued that the lawsuits helped create pressure for government regulation of the industries’ products but were less successful at securing compensation for the injured. Thus, the common law claims strengthened and supported administrative regulation and the adoption of industry alternatives more than they provided a means of legal redress.

Public sector reforms informed by contemporary management ideas that have taken place across Anglo-American polities since the 1980s were focused on economic rationalist concepts and managerialist approaches that prevailed in the private sector. Hence, concepts such as efficiency and effectiveness were advocated for the public sector, often on the assumption that they were relevant and could be applied easily. Private sector management concepts, principles, processes and practices were promoted under the mantra of ‘let the managers manage’ to be followed by ‘make the managers manage’. Critics have deemed public sector reforms, inspired by contemporary management ideas, as unsuitable in application to the public sector, given the unique character of public management (Brunsson, 2006; Gregory, 2003; Moe, 1994; Savoie, 1994; Sundstrom, 2006; Talbot, 2001; Williams, 2000). Nonetheless, these ideas became very fashionable in the English-speaking world. This chapter discusses the impact of contemporary management ideas couched as public sector reforms from the 1980s onward and specifically addresses the question of how contemporary management ideas have influenced Departmental Secretaries and their work. The role played by the Departmental Secretaries, central agencies and the government of the day, in the acceptance or rejection of contemporary management ideas, as well as the analysis of how such ideas travelled, were translated, trans-ferred and transformed, is also considered.

Tribal communities in the United States, particularly in coastal areas, are being forced to relocate due to accelerated rates of sea level rise, land erosion, and/or permafrost thaw brought on by climate change. Forced relocation and inadequate governance mechanisms and budgets to address climate change and support adaptation strategies may cause loss of community and culture, health impacts, and economic decline, further exacerbating tribal impoverishment and injustice. Sovereign tribal communities around the US, however, are using creative strategies to counter these losses. Taking a human rights approach, this article looks at communities’ advocacy efforts and strategies in dealing with climate change, displacement, and relocation. Case studies of Coastal Alaska and Louisiana are included to consider how communities are shaping their own relocation efforts in line with their cultural practices and values. The article concludes with recommendations on steps for moving forward toward community-led and government-supported resettlement programs.

Quantitative assessment of the spatial patterns of all human uses of the oceans and their cumulative effects is needed for implementing ecosystem-based management, marine protected areas, and ocean zoning. Here, we apply methods developed to map cumulative impacts globally to the California Current using more comprehensive and higher-quality data for 25 human activities and 19 marine ecosystems. This analysis indicates where protection and threat mitigation are most needed in the California Current and reveals that coastal ecosystems near high human population density and the continental shelves off Oregon and Washington are the most heavily impacted, climate change is the top threat, and impacts from multiple threats are ubiquitous. Remarkably, these results were highly spatially correlated with the global results for this region (R2= 0.92), suggesting that the global model provides guidance to areas without local data or resources to conduct similar regional-scale analyses.

Integrated assessment models show that, without new climate policies, abundant supplies of natural gas will have little impact on greenhouse-gas emissions and climate change. See Letter p.482 The development of hydraulic fracturing technologies has led to rapid growth in the use natural gas as an energy source. Some evidence has suggested that this growing adoption of natural gas might lead to a reduced greenhouse gas burden and consequent mitigation of climate change. This collaboration between five energy–climate modelling teams show that instead — under a scenario of abundant natural gas availability — increased consumption will have little or no impact on climate change. The authors suggest that expanded natural gas production and use is neither a substitute for a climate policy in the decades ahead nor a major new complication to the anthropogenic emissions problem.

This chapter examines similarities in government policies that have accelerated and privatized the extraction of offshore oil, coal, and oil sands on public lands in the United States and Canada, as well as the arguments used to justify those policies. Sociologist William Freudenburg argued that the diversion of public resources into private hands was made possible by a second diversion, the diversion of attention. Freudenburg, with Gramling, later applied this concept to U.S. offshore oil leases, noting that when it came to offshore oil, the myth of “energy independence” was often used to justify policies that were actually antithetical to the concept, promoting further dependence on fossil fuels. We extend the double diversion concept from offshore oil to U.S. coal and Alberta oil sands, noting the similarities in both the policy changes and the diversionary frameworks. The frameworks also divert attention from the increasing risks associated with energy extraction.

Research has found a subgroup of conservative white males have lower perceptions of risk across a variety of environmental and health hazards. Less research has looked at the views of these “low risk” individuals in group interactions. Through qualitative analysis of a technology deliberation, we note that white men expressing low risk views regarding technologies for energy and the environment also often express high social risks around potential loss of control. We argue these risk perceptions reflect identification with corporate concerns, usually framed in opposition to government and mirroring arguments made by conservative organizations. We situate these views within the broader cultural struggle over who has the power to name and address risks.

Survivor Rhetoric is a collection of essays about the language of abused women and girls written by feminist scholars from a variety of disciplines, including literary studies, psychology, law, and criminal justice. Editors Christine Shearer-Cremean and Carol L. Winkelmann have compiled a wholly original volume where diversity issues are critical, and which includes narratives from U.S. Appalachian evangelicals, lesbian women represented in Canadian feminist educational tracks, an American convert to Judaism in the Middle East, and elite or highly educated women represented in the mainstream media. The genres through which the stories are told include police reports, memoirs, and shelter talk, and the methods and focuses of the writers vary across the essays and include rhetorical, thematic analysis, ethnographic, and literary analysis. Survivor Rhetoric concludes with a call for more holistic and local responses to the problem of violence against women and girl children -- responses carefully attentive to language issues, informed by multiple perspectives, and in touch with global conversations.