What are the social outcomes of climate policies? A systematic map and review of the ex-post literature
It is critical to ensure climate and energy policies are just, equitable and beneficial for communities, both to sustain public support for decarbonisation and address multifaceted societal challenges. Our objective in this article is to examine the diverse social outcomes that have resulted from cl...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc11f |
| _version_ | 1797747754851631104 |
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| author | William F Lamb Miklós Antal Katharina Bohnenberger Lina I Brand-Correa Finn Müller-Hansen Michael Jakob Jan C Minx Kilian Raiser Laurence Williams Benjamin K Sovacool |
| author_facet | William F Lamb Miklós Antal Katharina Bohnenberger Lina I Brand-Correa Finn Müller-Hansen Michael Jakob Jan C Minx Kilian Raiser Laurence Williams Benjamin K Sovacool |
| author_sort | William F Lamb |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | It is critical to ensure climate and energy policies are just, equitable and beneficial for communities, both to sustain public support for decarbonisation and address multifaceted societal challenges. Our objective in this article is to examine the diverse social outcomes that have resulted from climate policies, in varying contexts worldwide, over the past few decades. We review 203 ex-post climate policy assessments that analyse social outcomes in the literature. We systematically and comprehensively map out this work, identifying articles on carbon, energy and transport taxes, feed-in-tariffs, subsidies, direct procurement policies, large renewable deployment projects, and other regulatory and market-based interventions. We code each article in terms of their studied social outcomes and effects, with a focus on electricity access, energy affordability, community cohesion, employment, distributional and equity issues, livelihoods and poverty, procedural justice, subjective well-being and drudgery. Our analysis finds that climate and energy policies often fall short of delivering positive social outcomes. Nonetheless, across country contexts and policy types there are manifold examples of climate policymaking that does deliver on both social and climate goals. This requires attending to distributive and procedural justice in policy design, and making use of appropriate mechanisms to ensure that policy costs and benefits are fairly shared. We emphasize the need to further advance ex-post policy assessments and learn about what policies work for a just transition. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:55:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d2fb5ffef2f44d2b830f3d3bea873244 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:55:09Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-d2fb5ffef2f44d2b830f3d3bea8732442023-08-09T14:58:00ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262020-01-01151111300610.1088/1748-9326/abc11fWhat are the social outcomes of climate policies? A systematic map and review of the ex-post literatureWilliam F Lamb0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3273-7878Miklós Antal1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3426-9916Katharina Bohnenberger2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3027-3336Lina I Brand-Correa3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3142-8766Finn Müller-Hansen4Michael Jakob5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5005-3563Jan C Minx6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2862-0178Kilian Raiser7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6004-0165Laurence Williams8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5023-9584Benjamin K Sovacool9https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4794-9403Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change , Torgauer Straße 12-15, EUREF Campus #19, 10829, Berlin, Germany; School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT, United KingdomSchool of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom; MTA-ELTE Lendület New Vision Research Group, Eötvös Loránd University , Pázmány P. s. 1A, 1117, Budapest, HungaryInstitute for Socio-Economics, University of Duisburg-Essen , Lotharstr. 65, 47057, Duisburg, GermanySchool of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT, United KingdomMercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change , Torgauer Straße 12-15, EUREF Campus #19, 10829, Berlin, Germany; Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Member of the Leibniz Association , P.O. Box 60 12 03, D-14412, Potsdam, GermanyMercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change , Torgauer Straße 12-15, EUREF Campus #19, 10829, Berlin, GermanyMercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change , Torgauer Straße 12-15, EUREF Campus #19, 10829, Berlin, Germany; School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT, United KingdomHertie School , Friedrichstr. 180, 10117, Berlin, GermanyScience Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School , Brighton BN1 9SL, United KingdomScience Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School , Brighton BN1 9SL, United Kingdom; Department of Business Technology and Development, Aarhus University , Herning 7400, DenmarkIt is critical to ensure climate and energy policies are just, equitable and beneficial for communities, both to sustain public support for decarbonisation and address multifaceted societal challenges. Our objective in this article is to examine the diverse social outcomes that have resulted from climate policies, in varying contexts worldwide, over the past few decades. We review 203 ex-post climate policy assessments that analyse social outcomes in the literature. We systematically and comprehensively map out this work, identifying articles on carbon, energy and transport taxes, feed-in-tariffs, subsidies, direct procurement policies, large renewable deployment projects, and other regulatory and market-based interventions. We code each article in terms of their studied social outcomes and effects, with a focus on electricity access, energy affordability, community cohesion, employment, distributional and equity issues, livelihoods and poverty, procedural justice, subjective well-being and drudgery. Our analysis finds that climate and energy policies often fall short of delivering positive social outcomes. Nonetheless, across country contexts and policy types there are manifold examples of climate policymaking that does deliver on both social and climate goals. This requires attending to distributive and procedural justice in policy design, and making use of appropriate mechanisms to ensure that policy costs and benefits are fairly shared. We emphasize the need to further advance ex-post policy assessments and learn about what policies work for a just transition.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc11fclimate policyenergy policysocial outcomesdistributional outcomesjust transitionssystematic review |
| spellingShingle | William F Lamb Miklós Antal Katharina Bohnenberger Lina I Brand-Correa Finn Müller-Hansen Michael Jakob Jan C Minx Kilian Raiser Laurence Williams Benjamin K Sovacool What are the social outcomes of climate policies? A systematic map and review of the ex-post literature Environmental Research Letters climate policy energy policy social outcomes distributional outcomes just transitions systematic review |
| title | What are the social outcomes of climate policies? A systematic map and review of the ex-post literature |
| title_full | What are the social outcomes of climate policies? A systematic map and review of the ex-post literature |
| title_fullStr | What are the social outcomes of climate policies? A systematic map and review of the ex-post literature |
| title_full_unstemmed | What are the social outcomes of climate policies? A systematic map and review of the ex-post literature |
| title_short | What are the social outcomes of climate policies? A systematic map and review of the ex-post literature |
| title_sort | what are the social outcomes of climate policies a systematic map and review of the ex post literature |
| topic | climate policy energy policy social outcomes distributional outcomes just transitions systematic review |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc11f |
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