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Full-Text Articles in Urban Studies
The Impact Of Municipal Renewable Electricity Use On Greenhouse Gas Emissions In The United States, Rachel M. Krause
The Impact Of Municipal Renewable Electricity Use On Greenhouse Gas Emissions In The United States, Rachel M. Krause
Rachel M. Krause
Local governments are increasingly taking initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, limited and inconsistent data makes evaluating the aggregate impact of relevant actions difficult. This paper focuses specifically on U.S. city governments’ use of renewable electricity to power their own operations. It develops a range of rough estimates for the cumulative nationwide impact of this activity and finds that it results in an annual abatement of between 5.8 and 29.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), with the best approximation being 6.2 million tons CO2e a year. This is about 20% of the estimated total that …
An Assessment Of The Greenhouse Gas Reducing Activities Being Implemented In Us Cities, Rachel Krause
An Assessment Of The Greenhouse Gas Reducing Activities Being Implemented In Us Cities, Rachel Krause
Rachel M. Krause
Local climate protection initiatives are receiving increased attention and support. However, most of the current understanding about their content, motivation, and impact is based on qualitative studies, whose findings cannot be generalized, or quantitative studies, which consider superficial measures of policy adoption. There is a lack of information about the type and extent of GHG-reducing actions that “typical” cities have implemented, whether or not they are explicitly framed as part of a broader climate protection strategy. In an effort to address this gap, this paper examines original data collected from a nation-wide sample of U.S. cities on their implementation of …
Symbolic Or Substantive Policy? Measuring The Extent Of Local Commitment To Climate Protection, Rachel Krause
Symbolic Or Substantive Policy? Measuring The Extent Of Local Commitment To Climate Protection, Rachel Krause
Rachel M. Krause
Over 1,000 U.S. municipalities have formally committed to reduce their local greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through participation in one of several climate protection networks. This has attracted the attention of researchers interested in theories of free-riding and local political decision making who question why municipalities become engaged in this global effort. However, whereas joining a climate protection network or adopting an emissions reduction goal are relatively low cost acts, the implementation of such policies entails higher costs. This raises legitimate questions about the extent and type of follow-through made on municipal climate protection commitments. This paper begins to fill-in the …
Policy Innovation, Intergovernmental Relations, And The Adoption Of Climate Protection Initiatives By U.S. Cities, Rachel Krause
Policy Innovation, Intergovernmental Relations, And The Adoption Of Climate Protection Initiatives By U.S. Cities, Rachel Krause
Rachel M. Krause
In the absence of federal requirements, how do state- and municipal-level characteristics impact the probability of local policy innovation? This article provides insight by examining the adoption of sub-national climate change mitigation initiatives in the United States. Drawing from literature on policy innovation, a multilevel model is developed to examine the factors influencing over 900 U.S. cities to eschew free-rider tendencies and formally commit to greenhouse gas reduction. Multilevel analysis recognizes the nested structure of cities within states and accounts for the shared economic, political, and policy environments experienced by cities within the same state. The level of initiative state …