Munich Security Conference - Arctic Security Roundtable (MSC - ASR)
This roundtable is organized by the MSC in cooperation with NUPI and Wilson Centre. ...
Katharina Glaab
Glaab was a visiting research fellow at NUPI in the Research Group on Russia, Asia and International Trade.
The Brazilian Elections and the Prospects for Norwegian Cooperation in the Amazon Rainforest
How can the presidential election in Brazil affect international cooperation to preserve the Amazon rainforest?
Is delay the new denial in climate policy?
With the decline of open climate denialism – is delay the new denial?
Norway’s Climate Club Quandary
Norway’s international climate policy has always aimed at building a unitary global climate regime. However, the Paris Agreement reflects and accelerates the fragmentation of the climate regime and has been accompanied by the emergence of a myriad of new climate initiatives between countries. This article highlights three trends that characterize the emerging climate regime: a shift from climate to green industrial policy; rising tension between climate and trade policy and pressure to merge climate and petroleum policy. We illustrate how climate clubs both create new rules within the climate regime and are formed in response to such rules. Navigating this new international landscape will be a central challenge for Norwegian climate policy moving forward. Norway’s climate club quandary in this context implies choices between different political strategies and competing interests and with possible consequences for what type of climate regime Norway will contribute to. The climate club quandary is both related whom Norway seeks to collaborate with and the formalization of such collaboration, but also the consequences of collaborating with some countries and not with others.
A functional approach to decentralization in the electricity sector: learning from community choice aggregation in California
Decentralization of the electricity sector has mainly been studied in relation to its infrastructural aspect, particularly location and size of the generation units, and only recently more attention has been paid to the governance aspects. This article examines power sector (de)centralization operationalized along three functional dimensions: political, administrative and economic. We apply this framework to empirically assess the changes in California’s electricity market, which saw the emergence of institutional innovation in the form of community choice aggregation (CCA). Unpacking the Californian case illustrates how decision-making has moved from central state government and regulators to the municipal level in uneven ways and without decentralized generation keeping pace. We also explore the impacts this multidimensional and diversified decentralization has on the ultimate goals of energy transition: decarbonization and energy security. Our framework and empirical findings challenge the conventional view on decentralization and problematize the widespread assumptions of its positive influence on climate mitigation and grid stability.
How the process of transitions shapes the politics of decarbonization: Tracing policy feedback effects across phases of the energy transition
Policy feedback has been applied as a theoretical concept in exploring the political dynamics of domestic energy transitions. However, theory-oriented work is needed to apply the concept to studies of technological change processes. This article explores two technology feedback effects – technology maturity and socio-technical fit – that add external pressure for policy adaption. These are theorized as enabling a correction mechanism through learning that can partly counter positive policy feedback effects. Thus, the co-evolution process between renewable energy policy instruments and technologies is conceptualized as involving increasing return processes leading to sticky policies, balanced by correction mechanisms that support a more plastic view on policies. This argument is explored through a longitudinal case study of the co-evolution of policy instruments and solar photovoltaics in California.