Schedule of Topics and Readings: subject to revision with notice. Check website for up to date readings. Supplementary readings for background interest only are NOT required readings.
January 10: Course overview: overview of the energy system from a policy perspective; roadmap for the course, introduction to case
Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project, Pathways to Deep Decarbonization – Executive Summary 2015 Report. (SSDN and IDDRI).
January 17: Sustainable Energy as a Social and Political Challenge
David G. Victor, Global Warming Gridlock, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), Chapter 2, “Why global warming is such a hard problem to solve.” (on-line UBC Library http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ubc/docDetail.action?docID=10460494)
Dan Kahan, et al, “The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks,” Nature Climate Change 2 (October 2012), 732-5. doi:10.1038/nclimate1547
Gregory C. Unruh, “Understanding carbon lock-in,” Energy Policy 28 (2000) 817-830. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0301-4215(00)00070-7
Supplementary
Delucchi, M.A. and Jacobson, M.Z., “Providing all global energy with wind, water, and solar power, Part II: Reliability, system and transportation costs, and policies,” Energy Policy 39 (2011) 1170–119.
Chris Mooney, “The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science,” Mother Jones, May/June 2011, http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/denial-science-chris-mooney
January 24: The Policy Analysis Framework
Carl Patton and David Sawicki, Basic Methods of Policy Analysis and Planning, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993), 2nd Edition, selected pages.
4 tutorials on policy analysis provided by the professor Tutorial text http://frst523.forestry.ubc.ca/simulation/tutorials-text/ or Tutorial videos http://frst523.forestry.ubc.ca/simulation/tutorials-video/
Case study TBA
Supplementary
Eugene Bardach, A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis: The Eightfold Path to More Effective Problem Solving, 4th Edition (CQ Press, 2011). Intro and Part 1 only.
David Weimer and Aidan Vining, Policy Analysis: Concepts and Practice, 4th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice-Hall, 2005).
Mini-brief 1: Define your policy problem. Specify 3-4 criteria and 3-4 alternatives (begin in class January 24, due January 31 by noon).
January 31: Policy Instruments – the range of policy instruments relevant to energy and how they compare on a variety of criteria
Mark Jaccard, Sustainable Fossil Fuels, (Cambridge University Press, 2005) pp. 270-290 (on-line through UBC library).
Ecofiscal Commision, Choose Wisely: Options and Trade-offs in Recycling Carbon Pricing Revenues, April 2016. Read the executive summary and Chapter 4. You should skim chapters 2 and 3.
Mark Jaccard, Mikela Hein and Tiffany Vass, “Is Win-Win Possible? Can Canada’s Government Achieve Its Paris Commitment . . . and Get Re-Elected?” School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, September 20, 2016 (focus especially on pp. 1-9)
Supplementary:
William Nordhaus, The Climate Casino: Risk, Uncertainty, and Economics for a Warming World, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013), Chapters 19, 20, 22.
Robert Stavins, “Addressing Climate Change with a Comprehensive U.S. Cap-and-Trade System,” The Oxford Review of Economic Policy 24 (2) (2008): 298-321
Jaccard, M., L. Agbenmabiese, C. Azar, A. de Oliveira, C. Fischer, B. Fisher, A. Hughes, M. Ohadi, Y. Kenji and X. Zhang, 2012: Chapter 22 – Policies for Energy System Transformations: Objectives and Instruments. In Global Energy Assessment – Toward a Sustainable Future, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria, pp. 1549-1602.
February 7: Formal Government Processes – division of powers, parliamentary government, the legislative process, the regulatory process
George Hoberg, “Forces at Work in Natural Resource Policy – A Hoberg Course Brief,” February 6, 2015.
Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Bill 25 Oil Sands Emissions Limit Act.
Nigel Bankes, “Oil Sands Emission Limit Legislation: A Real Commitment or Kicking It Down the Road?” (3 November, 2016), on-line: ABlawg.
George Hoberg, “Formal Government Processes for Policy Production in Canada – A Hoberg Course Brief,” Greenpolicyprof, September 21, 2015.
Nathalie Chalifour, “The feds have every legal right to set a carbon price,” iPpolitics October 4, 2016.
George Hoberg, “What is the Role of First Nations in Decision-Making on Crown Government Resource Development Projects? – A Hoberg Course Brief,” January 19, 2015.
Supplementary
Monica Gattinger, “A National Energy Strategy for Canada: Golden Age or Golden Cage of Energy Federalism?” Forthcoming in Loleen Berdahl and André Juneau, eds., Canada: The State of the Federation 2012-13
Normal Ruff, “Executive Dominance: Cabinet and the Office of the Premier in British Columbia,” in British Columbia Politics and Government, Micheal Howlett, Dennis Pilon, and Tracy Sommerville, eds, (Toronto: Edmond Montgomery, 2010).
Monica Gattinger, “Canada-United States Energy Relations: Making a MESS of Energy Policy,” American Review of Canadian Studies 42 4 (2012), 460-73 (on line through UBC Library)
Mini-brief 2: Your minister has been asked to give a presentation to the International Energy Agency, which has just decided to conduct a review of your country’s energy system and policies. You are tasked with providing an overview of your system of government according to the following template (due February 7 in class)
February 14: Actor Dynamics – actors in the policy process (government and interest groups): interests, resources, strategies
Rachel Thompson, “Stakeholder Analysis: Winning Support for Your Projects,” Mindtools
George Hoberg, “The Battle Over Oil Sands Access to Tidewater: A Political Risk Analysis of Pipeline Alternatives.” Canadian Public Policy Volume 39, No. 3, pp. 371-391.
Paul Burnstein, “The impact of public opinion on public policy: A review and an agenda,” Political Research Quarterly (2003) 56: 29-40.
Supplementary
Stefan Olander, “Stakeholder impact analysis in construction project management,” Construction Management and Economics (March 2007) 25, 277–287
George Hoberg and Jeffrey Phillips, “Playing Defence: Early Responses to Conflict Expansion in the Oil Sands Policy Subsystem,” Canadian Journal of Political Science 44 (2011): pp 507-527.
February 21: Midterm Break
February 28: Energy Planning and Approval Strategies, and the Challenge of Social License
Mark Jaccard, Noel Melton, and John Nyboer, “Institutions and Process for scaling up renewables: Run-of-river hydropower in British Columbia,” Energy Policy 39 (2011): 4042-4050. (available through UBC library on line)
Michael Cleland et al, A Matter of Trust: The Role of Communities in Energy Decision-Making, University of Ottawa and Canada West Foundation, November 2016.
Suggested:
Penny Becklumb and Tim Williams, Canada’s New Federal Environmental Assessment Process, Publication no. 2012-36-E. Parliamentary Information and Research Service, Library of Parliament, 28 August 2012 http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/2012-36-e.pdf
Meinhard Doelle, “CEAA 2012: The End Of Federal EA As We Know It?” Environmental Law and Practice http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2104336
Kevin Hanna, “Environmental Impact Assessment: Process, Setting, and Efficacy,” In Kevin Hanna, ed., Environmental Impact Assessment: Practice and Participation, (Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press, 2009).
March 7: Energy Poverty – The Challenge and Case Studies
Antoine Halff, Benjamin K. Sovacool, and Jon Rozhon, Energy Poverty: Global Challenges and Local Solutions, Oxford Scholarship Online, Chapter 2, and pick one of Chapters 10-14.
Mini-brief 3: Your minister has been asked to give a presentation to the International Energy Agency, which has just decided to conduct a review of your country’s energy system and policies. You are tasked with providing an overview of existing energy policy in your jurisdiction as it relates to decarbonization.(due March 7 at noon).
March 14: Trump, California, and Energy Policy in the United States
Read one of the following:
Ryan Lizza, “The President and the Pipeline,” The New Yorker, September 16, 2013 (on Keystone XL)
Ryan Lizza, “As The World Burns,” The New Yorker, October 11, 2010 (on the Senate failure to adopt cap and trade legislation)
Other readings TBA
March 21: Case Study in Policy Innovation: Germany’s Energiewende
DELTE E Schmid, A Pechan, B Knopf, “Putting an energy system transformation into practice: The case of the German Energiewende’, Energy Research & Social Science 11 (2016): 263–275 DOI:10.1016/j.erss.2015.11.002 open access post-print PDF
Erik Laes, Leen Gorissen, and Frank Nevens, “A Comparison of Energy Transition Governance in Germany, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom,” Sustainability 2014, 6, 1129-1152.
Denny Ellerman, Claudio Marcantonini and Aleksandar Zaklan, “The European Union Emissions Trading System: Ten Years and Counting,” Rev Environ Econ Policy (Winter 2016)10 (1): 89-107. doi:10.1093/reep/rev014
March 28 – International Trade and Clean Energy Policies
Joanna I. Lewis, “The Rise of Renewable Energy Protectionism: Emerging Trade Conflicts and Implications for Low Carbon Development,” Global Environmental Politics 14:4, November 2014, doi:10.1162/GLEP_a_00255
Joel P. Trachtman, “WTO Law Constraints on Border Tax Adjustment and Tax Credit Mechanisms to Reduce the Competitive Effects of Carbon Taxes,” Resources for the Future Discussion Paper, RFF DP 16-03, January 2016.
April 4: Transitions, Synthesis, Reflections
Ezra Markowitz and Azim Shariff, “Climate Change and Moral Judgement,” Nature Climate Change vol 2 (April 2012)
Vaclav Smil, “A Global Transition to Renewable Energy Will Take Many Decades,” Scientific American January 1, 2014. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-global-transition-to-renewable-energy-will-take-many-decades/
Benjamin K. Sovacool, “How long will it take? Conceptualizing the temporal dynamics of energy transitions,” Energy Research and Social Sciences http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2015.12.020
