The evaluation of climate policy: theory and emerging practice in Europe

Abstract

Climate policy is a relatively young and dynamic area of public policy making. However, its development has attracted far more attention than the results it delivers in practice, which of course are the concern of policy evaluators. This article attempts to provide the first systematic cataloging of the emerging patterns of policy evaluation undertaken in different parts of the European Union. Theories of policy evaluation suggest that these evaluation practices should acknowledge the inherent complexity of climate policy making, be reflexive by questioning official policy goals, and be participatory. A meta-analysis of 259 climate policy evaluations suggests that current practice engages with some but not all of these issues. This article concludes by analyzing the implications of this finding for those in the academic and practitioner community who are keen to understand the extent to which climate policy evaluation is delivering on its promises.

The governance of adaptation: choices, reasons, and effects. Introduction to the Special Feature

“…Also, the evaluation of both outputs and outcomes can follow a range of logics. Often-used criteria to judge climate governance (see Huitema et al 2011) are goal related (goal achievement, effectiveness), cost related (costeffectiveness, efficiency), law related (are legal principles followed), process related (fairness, coordination), outcome related (equity, legitimacy), and all can be applied with equal force to climate change adaptation, and if one does one obviously prefers systems that are more efficient, effective, fair, etc. Here too, we simply check the various contributions to this Special Feature, analyzing what is being said in terms of relations between governance choices and patterns in outputs and outcomes; here too we take an explorative approach.…”

An alternative policy evaluation of the British Columbia carbon tax: broadening the application of Elinor Ostrom’s design principles for managing common-pool resources

“…Huitema et al (2011), for instance, review 259 such evaluations in the European Union, also noting that effectiveness, efficiency, and equity are common criteria for evaluation. Moreover they find that good evaluations are expected to acknowledge the complexity of the problem, be reflexive, i.e., question the official goals, and incorporate stakeholders.…”

“…To the contrary, the design principles allow us to not only reach similar conclusions as the traditional policy analyses, e.g., pointing to the same issues of effectiveness, as in principle 4A (although, this is no substitute for actually measuring the relevant variables), but also make further recommendations, e.g., nested enterprise, graduated sanctions. Such suggestions are based on a broader conceptualization of the problem rooted in CPR theory, e.g., the nested enterprises recommendation acknowledges that there are system-wide problems that must be addressed, and address the tendency of climate policy evaluation to focus on narrow goals (see Huitema et al 2011).…”

Innovations in climate policy: conclusions and new directions

“…Crucially, states seemed quite determined to keep things this way, even though many have apparently developed (and routinely employ) more sophisticated capacities to evaluate their own (non-EU) policies. More puzzlingly, non-state actors such as academics and consultants were either unwilling or unable to fill in the resulting 'evaluation' gaps, especially as regards the more reflexive types of evaluations that challenge extant policy goals and targets (Huitema et al 2011). …”

“…Finally, as regards policy evaluation, there are many new and important questions that could be studied (Huitema et al 2011). An important puzzle is whether the innovations at the instrument level catalogued in this volume are representative of the type of innovations taking place in other parts of the world.…”