The recent expansion and intensification of natural rubber cultivation has been associated with widespread forest conversion, habitat and biodiversity loss, increased livelihood vulnerabilities and, in some cases, dispossession of land. While these issues have attracted considerable attention from scientific and academic communities, public awarenessparticularly in terms of consumer demand for standards and certificationhas been slow to develop in comparison to other agro-commodity crops. Drawing on the concepts of global value chain analysis, management swing potential and issue attention cycle, this article examines the relatively slow uptake of natural rubber eco-certification through a comparison of three case studies in Jambi (Indonesia), Xishuangbanna (China) and Kerala (India). This study finds that natural rubber certification has taken a path of least resistance, emerging in relatively short value chains characterized by high degrees of vertical integration where existing production practices require minimal adjustment to achieve certification. Although certification programmes often position themselves as transparent and accountable alternatives to government regulation, the success of these programmes is dependent on the continued presence of the state to establish the necessary institutional and social foundations for private regulation to operate successfully. Consumer pressure plays an important role in evoking sustainability initiatives and influencing standards, yet when disconnected from the specific issues associated with a particular commodity, public concerns may produce standards and forms of certification that need to be complemented by sub-national and national policy and programmes in providing solutions for ecosystem service and social problems.
Community choice aggregation—an emerging electricity supply model allowing residents and businesses to purchase electricity from local governments instead of utilities—is projected to account for 60% of Californian customers currently served by investor-owned utilities by 2020.Community choice aggregation advocates claim that the model is an effective means of meeting California’s renewable energy policy objectives in a way that is more democratic and socially just than the prevailing utility-based model of electricity governance. We interrogate these claims through a focus on three issues: community choice aggregation governance and access to capital, electricity procurement, and customer rates and retention. We find that community choice aggregators have been able to address concerns regarding access to capital while balancing competing objectives around renewable energy and affordability. However, local benefits—particularly in terms of local economic development driven by the expansion of distributed generation—are yet to be fully realized. In addition, ongoing policy uncertainty regarding cost allocation between utility and community choice aggregation customers may limit the ability of community choice aggregators to offer competitive rates, which may threaten the model’s long-term viability. We conclude by arguing that meeting California’s future renewable energy requires a reconfiguration of the regulatory framework that leverages the respective strengths of both community choice aggregators and investor-owned utilities in the context of the state’s energy transition.
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