The Future of Climate Change is in the Hands of Climate Action Plans: An Examination of the Purpose, Progress, and Structure of Climate Action Plans.

Open Access
- Author:
- Di Prinzio, Olivia
- Area of Honors:
- Earth Science and Policy
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Maureen Feineman, Thesis Supervisor
Timothy Bralower, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- climate change
climate action planning
community engagement
2015 Paris Agreement
equity - Abstract:
- In working to address their party’s NDC commitments, several countries have taken to developing climate action plans (CAPs). Developed at various levels of government, climate action planning takes on a life of its own as it reflects the needs, culture, and political landscape of the community it applies to, which requires a necessary level of variability amongst plans. Due to the noted global proliferation of climate action plans produced by varied levels of governments, a question was raised regarding the presence of a uniform development framework for climate action plans. The importance of pursuing this question is supported by the determination of an absence of an agreed-upon suite of elements outside of greenhouse gas emission inventories and goals for emissions reduction. In addition to this subject, questions arose regarding the geospatial variation of elements inclusion and the role of community engagement in plans’ development. It is proposed that climate action plans, particularly when involving significant community engagement, are an effective method for addressing subnational contributions as well as implementing local climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. After reviewing twenty-two climate action plans originating from across five continental regions, a suite of commonly included elements was identified based on continental region and governance scale. Subsequently, this thesis advocates for the utilization of these elements by governments and planners when undertaking the planning process. In particular, the role of community engagement was found to be a somewhat lacking element in climate action plans that has led to the perpetuation of systemic inequities. To explore this reality more thoroughly, research on the common best practices for community engagement and first-person interviews with both Māori and Pākehā members in Aotearoa were conducted. This thesis concludes that equitable community engagement is critical to achieving sustainable development through the creation of climate action plans.