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This paper aims to portray the increasingly complex normative structure of international climate change regime, which consists of the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Cimate Change, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol as well as other additional elements that playing a role, such as the practices of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Global Environmental Facility and procedures of these institutions. The paper is composed of three parts. The first part defines three key concepts, used extensively in this paper. Part two discusses factors promoting the increasing use of soft law in international environmental management in general and climate change regime in particular and overviews the international legal foundations on which the climate change regime is built. Part three briefly analysis of the normstructure of the CCR, including the reporting, review and non-compliance mechanisms as well as the fJexibility mechanisms that this regime lays down. The paper concludes that both hard and soft law, may have diffirential efficts on both rule development and effictive implementation of climate change rules depending mainly on three factors: 'political saliency', 'the perceived state of scientific knowledge', and 'the bargaining power of the states' that favour either hard or respectively soft law.

AbstractVery few countries have managed to decouple economic growth from resource use and greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms and at rates to meet the climate targets of the Paris Agreement. To achieve this, technological solutions would need to be combined with sufficiency-oriented policies in a postgrowth context. This paper develops policy ideas for a sustainable welfare–work nexus via citizen engagement and examines the level of democratic support for such ideas. Theoretically, it employs "sustainable welfare" to understand welfare and wellbeing within planetary and social limits. The paper first sketches the welfare–work nexus as developed in the postwar circumstances in Western Europe, highlighting that this model was at no point in time ecologically generalizable to the rest of the world, and then briefly reviews the existing debate on sustainable welfare. The empirical analyses start with qualitative data from 11 deliberative forums on sustainable needs satisfaction, with emphasis on policies targeted at respecting the upper and lower boundaries of a "safe and just operating space" for economic and social development. The qualitative data are then triangulated with quantitative data from a representative survey, which was constructed based on the policy suggestions from the forums, hence allowing for an exploration of their popularity in the Swedish population as a whole. We find a considerable gap between the far-reaching policy measures that forum participants consider necessary and the measures that the general public in Sweden are prepared to support, especially when it comes to policies targeting maximum levels of needs satisfaction.

Very few countries have managed to decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms and where this was achieved at rates too slow to meet the climate targets of the Paris agreement. To do so, technological solutions would need to be combined with sufficiency-oriented policies in a post growth context. Contributing to such a policy strategy, this paper explores the potentials for democratically formulating and establishing a sustainable welfare-work nexus. Theoretically, it employs 'sustainable welfare' as an attempt to understand welfare and wellbeing within planetary limits. Empirically, it presents qualitative and quantitative data from an ongoing research project in Sweden. The paper first sketches the welfareworknexus as developed in the post-war circumstances in Western Europe,highlighting that this model was at no point in time ecologically generalizable to the rest of the world, and briefly reviews the hitherto debate on sustainable welfare. The empirical analyses start with qualitative data from eleven deliberative forums on sustainable needs satisfaction with emphasis on policies targeted at respecting the upper and lower boundaries of a 'safe operational space' within which needs satisfaction may be established within planetary limits. The qualitative data are then triangulated with quantitative data from a representative survey, which was constructed based on the policy suggestions from the forums, hence allowing for an exploration of their popularity in the Swedish population as a whole.

Due to increased urbanisation, and climate change, there have been calls for a more sustainable management of stormwater. Blue-green measures have been recognised as a sustainable solution and a necessary complement to pipe-bound approaches. The aim of this study is to identify barriers and drivers in the implementation of blue-green measures in a Swedish context, to increase the understanding of how they could be implemented in a more successful manner. The study is qualitative and based on semi-structured interviews. Through the lens of transition theory, barriers and drivers for blue-green measures were identified and they give an updated picture of Swedish urban stormwater management. Many factors encourage municipal actors to implement blue-green solutions, such as increased need for recreation, protection of biodiversity and climate change. Identified barriers are found within the municipal stormwater management it-self, but can also be found outside the storm water management structure, such as lack of knowledge among politicians, officials, exploiters and civilians, fragmented roles and responsibilities in general, as well as uncertainty of the effects and cost of new alternatives. The study has three main findings; Several barriers were mentioned by most of the interviewees clearly show that a wide range of changes are needed to alter the current stormwater management regime; Niche innovations are often put forward as a way to enhance socio-technical transition, but this study is that such an approach is over-simplified instead elaborated suggestions for an alteration of urban stormwater management is given, both with top-down and bottom-up perspective. For the success of blue-green solutions, educational efforts are important at different levels in the planning, building and maintenance process of blue-green solutions. Therefore, employees must have a good general knowledge of both blue and green issues as well as having contacts in the different sectors of the municipality. To conclude we argue that a transition can not only be induced by pilot projects but requires change in legal structures as well as altered financing models for blue-green solutions. Moreover, the ongoing, but slow, change should therefor probably be interpreted as a shift to a new regime, but rather an evolutionary transition where new approaches are combined with traditional, pipe-bound solutions.

The content of this report is a Deliverable of the FP7 project RUFUS (Rural Future Networks) concerning the Swedish case studies that have been conducted within the project. Two regions in the south of Sweden – the counties of Kronoberg and Kalmar – have been studied in order to find out how social and economic development strategies are enacted in these rural regions. This report concerns Kalmar County. The aim of the study has been to discover how different sectoral policies are taken into account in the planning system and how the political actors and administrations are helped or hindered by the EU funding system in their work towards a sustainable future of the regions.

The content of this report is a Deliverable of the FP7 project RUFUS (Rural Future Networks) concerning the Swedish case studies that have been conducted within the project. Two regions in the south of Sweden – the counties of Kronoberg and Kalmar – have been studied in order to find out how social and economic development strategies are enacted in these rural regions. This report concerns Kronoberg County. The aim of the study has been to discover how different sectoral policies are taken into account in the planning system and how the political actors and administrations are helped or hindered by the EU funding system in their work towards a sustainable future of the regions.

Participation of stakeholders at the local level is evolving as a mechanism to address complex environmental problems, not least water pollution. Participation has been used as a tool for the economic and social empowerment of settlements within the catchment of the Korle lagoon in Ghana, particularly residents of the Old Fadama community that live in proximity to the lagoon. Using direct observations and survey of stakeholder groups, the paper examines the structure and process of participation of stakeholders in Korle lagoon resource use and water policy formulation and implementation with regard to Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project (KLERP). The results show that exclusion of stakeholders generates conflict and antagonism which hinders the implementation of water resource policy. Alliances of stakeholders in the participatory process have served as pressure points compelling government to negotiate with civil society on behalf of the community. In theory, participation holds promise to address conflict, however in practice, a number of factors that feed into conflict characterise the process of participation in this case, such as ineffective information flow in the community, agency-structure dynamics, historical antecedents among the ethnic groups and low-levels of communication. These gaps jointly undermine the full participation of the Old Fadama community in lagoon management.

Executive Summary Introduction Following alarming reports from the IPCC, climate change has engaged policymakers world-wide to chart policies at different administrative levels to mitigate increasing greenhouse gas emissions. The construction sector causes a substantial part of all greenhouse gas emissions, primarily carbon dioxide. Traditionally in this sector, the focus of carbon reduction measures has been on improving the energy efficiency of buildings. Further, various sustainability assessment schemes (BREEAM, LEED, Green Star, etc.) have been developed to assess sustainability performance. More recently, awareness has increased of the considerable greenhouse gas emissions arising from the manufacturing of construction materials and components, and also from construction processes and transport. Consequently, the infrastructure construction sector is now considered as a major source of greenhouse gases. In the UK, The Infrastructure Carbon Review has estimated that the construction, maintenance and operations of infrastructure assets account for 16% of the nation's total carbon dioxide emissions. It is widely acknowledged that these emissions need to be significantly reduced if the international and national reduction targets are to be met. About the project This research project has investigated the institutional and organisational contexts, policies, procurement requirements and implementation strategies used to drive greenhouse gas reduction in large infrastructure projects in five countries world-wide: Australia, The Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and the US (see below for an overview of case study projects). The study is based on interviews with key partners on the client side and in the supply chain of each project. To provide a contextual understanding of the strategies used in these projects, we further include descriptions of the policy background that underlies current strategies and ambitions. Thus, the project traces the pathway from political and organisational goals to actual realisation in ...

The fact that the debate concerning copyright in a digital society has been both intense and filled with polemic conflicts ever since the late 1990s makes it clear that it is a most complicated issue to solve, or even grasp. Basically, both the legal and societal discussion and development are explicitly dependent on a greater understanding of the on-going processes surrounding copyright. This presents a well-suited point of departure for research such as the one conducted within the Cybernorms research group – both in terms of providing valuable insights into the field of sociology of law when it comes to understanding how to relate to the framework provided by digitalization in general and the Internet in particular, and in terms of providing more accurate knowledge and toolsets to legislators in related fields.