UN DESA Working Paper No. 73
ST/ESA/2009/DWP/73
March 2009

Climate Policy Integration: Towards Operationalization

Imran Habib Ahmad

Abstract:
The climate change debate raises the issue of often identified, but as yet little explored, requirement to incorporate climate policy into other policy sectors, often termed climate “mainstreaming” or climate policy integration (CPI). This paper explores the imperative for CPI, the state of current understanding, and proposals for implementation at the crucial national policy scale. The paper draws on the longer-standing field of environmental policy integration, noting that literature’s scant coverage of climate issues but its greater focus on policy and administrative structures and processes, and concludes that more attention needs to be given to these implementation mechanisms for CPI.

JEL Classification: F59, H11, Q54, Q56, Q58

Keywords: Climate change, public policy, environment, sustainable development, international cooperation

The full paper is available on-line: http://www.un.org/esa/desa/papers/2009/w…

Imran Habib Ahmad
is a doctoral scholar at the Australian National University, a writer for Earth Negotiations Bulletin and team member, World Economic and Social Survey 2009 at UN/DESA.

Comments further comments can   be addressed by e-mail to the author:  alumni.brandeis.edu

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From Bloomberg News, talking of the Ban – Obama meeting:

On climate change, Obama pledged that the United States was ready to move forward “even the midst of an economic crisis.” He warned that potential ecological degradation caused by climate change would have an even greater effect on the international economy if action isn’t taken.

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The UN News Service says:

During their talks, the leaders underscored the importance of reaching an international agreement on climate change – with nations expected to agree on an ambitious successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gases at a UN conference in Copenhagen in December – to both save the earth and promote sustainable economic recovery.
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But the Guardian thinks the UN and the US have lower expectations – so what should the world do?

UN climate chief: US carbon cuts could spark ‘revolution.’

David Adam in Copenhagen, The Guardian,        Wednesday 11 March 2009

Article history: The head of the UN body charged with leading the fight against climate change has conceded that Barack Obama will face a “revolution” if he commits the US to the deep carbon cuts that scientists and campaigners say are needed.

His words come as scientists at the Copenhagen conference said that modest IPCC estimates of likely sea level rise this century need to be increased. Extra melting in Greenland could drive sea levels to more than a metre higher than today by 2100, they said.

Obama has said the US will work to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Europe has pledged to cut them by 20-30% on 1990 levels by 2020. The IPCC says developed nations should aim for 25-40% cuts by then to avoid dangerous climate change.

Speaking on the fringes of a high-level scientific conference on climate change in Copenhagen, Pachauri told the Guardian: “He [Obama] is not going to say by 2020 I’m going to reduce emissions by 30%. He’ll have a revolution on his hands. He has to do it step by step.”

Pachauri’s remarks echo those of Todd Stern, the US president’s new chief climate negotiator, who said last week that it was “not possible” for the US to aim for 25-40% cuts by 2020.

Such a stance could threaten attempts to agree a new global deal to regulate carbon emissions to replace the existing Kyoto protocol, the first phase of which expires in 2012. Campaigners say a new treaty must be agreed at UN talks in Copenhagen this December.

Obama has called for 80% carbon cuts by 2050, but insiders say that such long-term pledges will do little to convince developing nations such as China to sign up to a new climate deal. British officials say meaningful US involvement in the short term is crucial to agree a new treaty.

Pachauri told the Guardian the US needed to do more in the short term. But he questioned whether there would be sufficient domestic movement for the US to agree stricter targets in December. He said it was “hard to say” if a new deal would be meaningful without such a step.