The Global Network of Carbon-Pricing Capacity-Building

Capacity-building can be an important vehicle to diffuse and promote climate policies by equipping jurisdictions with the necessary knowledge and expertise they need to adopt effective measures. Despite this potential, capacity-building is an under-researched mechanism of global policy diffusion. This paper analyses the proliferation of and interaction among carbon-pricing capacity-building projects and actors with the aim to identify patterns and effectiveness conditions for diffusion. It takes an ambitious network approach by conceptualising and analysing the global carbon-pricing capacity-building network, which comprises a considerable number and diversity of actors and activities. Capacity-building projects are not exclusively driven by external experts, governments and organisations; the receiving jurisdiction's leverage to steer project design and content can be a crucial factor, shaping the process of infusing external expertise into domestic policy-making. They are crucial parts of the carbon-pricing capacity-building network. The types of interactions between the demand and supply of policy expertise can influence the degree of capacity-building effectiveness. For this reason, the paper differentiates various types of network interactions. Beyond that, there are multiple suppliers of capacity-building projects in the field of carbon pricing policy, including NGOs, international organisations and governments. The type of interaction among those actors can increase/decrease the effectiveness of capacity-building in a given jurisdiction. The paper maps capacity-building projects in countries including China, Mexico, South Korea and Kazakhstan. It identifies effectiveness conditions by analysing the role that central actors and brokers play and by evaluating the interaction among multiple capacity-building projects and actors across multiples scales.