Understanding Climate Policy Failure

This paper examines the following research question: do climate policies fail in the same way that other policies fail? There is an extensive literature examining policy failures, blunders and disasters (both in relation to specific national case studies and on a more comparative basis). This literature seeks to understand the nature of policy failure including exploring what it means for a policy to go wrong (for example, a major over-spend on an infrastructure project or a policy initiative with a rhetoric-reality gap). Scholars also debate the causes of policy failure, including the potential role of institutional design, bureaucratic capacity, incentive structures within executives and accountability mechanisms. This paper seeks to draw from this literature to focus specifically on climate policy. It explores whether there are examples of government policy initiatives which have sought to deliver climate mitigation but have failed in conventional ways (as defined by the metrics identified in the policy failure literature). Assuming this is the case, it also assesses the reasons behind such failures and whether they are similar to the factors identified as causing policy failure generally. Put differently, it examines whether climate policies fail for the same reasons other policies fail, or if there are distinct challenges associated with climate policies. The research focuses on a case study of climate policymaking in the UK since 2008. It examines the questions set out above in relation to a series of climate policy initiatives from this period: Feed-in Tariffs (launched 2010), the Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (launched 2011), the Carbon Capture and Storage Competition (launched 2012), the Green Deal Loan Scheme (launched 2013), and changes to the planning status of onshore wind projects (announced 2015). The research employs qualitative comparative analysis to compare the examples, drawing from a set of semi-structured interviews with UK policymakers involved with developing these initiatives and analysis of relevant policy documents. This paper forms part of a broader stream of research exploring the extent to which the politics surrounding climate policy conforms to conventional understandings of policymaking in general or has distinct dynamics.