Paper: Global warming and energy policy
Global warming and energy policy. Multilevel governance implication in the Argentine case
Freier, Alexander; Mazzalay, Víctor Hugo; & Rolando, Augusto (2020)
This article analyses the energy policy as the principal policy field in the fight against global warming and explores the onset of an emerging multi-level governance as well as its effects on human development. Energy policy in Argentina, with special focus on Córdoba, serves as a case study in order to analyse two fields of action in order to strengthen efficiency: energy generation and the promotion of renewable sources, on the one hand, and energy consumption, on the other. The analysis sheds light on the inconsistency of energy policies, which come along with contradictory regulations, limiting effects regarding the increase of renewable energy, and a rationalization in consumption. These features coincide with an emerging multi-level governance characterized by multiple actors and fragmented regulations, as well as partial differences on the technical and ideological level between national governments, within the timeframe for this paper.
Introduction
Climate change and global warming are associated with the emission
and atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), which have grown three
times above pre-industrial levels due to the use of fossil fuels
–coal, oil, and natural gas– and deforestation. In recent years, these phenomena have gained prominence on the international political agenda, leading countries to gradually adopt measures aimed at stabilizing GHG emissions and mitigating their negative effects
.
However, as a counterbalance to these advances, the issue of energy security and sustainability has been incorporated into the same debate, thereby acquiring a joint meaning as a “sustainable development model.”
Thus, the argument put forward by states regarding the need to achieve “energy security” for their countries has accompanied policies that have turned the traditional energy industry into the main emitting sector of greenhouse gases.
This process meant that actions to combat climate change began to be conditioned by the possibility of guaranteeing energy security in advance. Thus, as a result of the search for energy security inspired by the paradigm of sustainable development, states have gradually adopted the idea of promoting energy production from renewable sources, with the aim of reducing CO2 emissions through the generation of clean energy.
The global nature of this environmental problem suggests that achieving the objectives requires the action of numerous international, national, and sub-national actors in a context of interdependence. Some analyses understand that this requires the development of good governance (Ruiz, 2017) that aims to ensure that governments have the necessary financial and administrative capacities (Bresser Pereira and Cunill Grau, 1998). For its part, Green Theory suggests that it is necessary to think about these problems globally and act locally in order to achieve effective responses. Another view considers that global power structures must be broken down through local action and smaller-scale political communities with independent economies must be built (Paterson, 2005). In other words, it is necessary to recognize that social, economic, and environmental problems operate at the global level, but that their solution requires actors at multiple levels with varying degrees of autonomy, power, and capacity. In other words, we must operate as multilevel governance.
