Local governance of greenhouse gas emissions from air travel

ABSTRACT

Global greenhouse gas emissions from air travel (GHG-A) are on the rise, and projections point towards a rapid growth in the coming decades. This study aims to examine how local government (cities), addresses GHG-A in their Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAP). To fulfil this aim, over 200 SEAPs were analysed focusing on three issues: (1) Treatment of GHG-A in local emissions inventories; (2) Policy initiatives within this domain; and (3) The cities’ perceptions of the conflicts of interests. Results showed that more than half of the cities acknowledge the challenge of GHG-A, around one third include GHG-A in their emissions inventories, and more than one quarter have initiated policy interventions. To categorise these interventions, we have added a mode ‘governing by agenda setting’ to an existing analytical framework, ‘Modes of governing’. With their authority limited to the local setting, this mode of governing is a common channel for cities to push changes at higher levels.

KEYWORDS:

• Local climate governance
• greenhouse gas emissions
• aviation
• air travel
• conflicts of interest

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Anna Elofsson http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9527-2137

Nora Smedby http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1433-2260

Jörgen Larsson http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7376-5499

Jonas Nässén http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1564-8585

Notes on contributors

Anna Elofsson is a PhD student, focusing sustainable long-distance travel, and in particular how the aviation sector can contribute to reaching climate targets.

Nora Smedby is a postdoctoral fellow, researching the role of public policy and governance in enabling (or hindering) a transition to a low-carbon, energy efficient society. She holds particular expertise in the fields of local governance and urban development.

Jörgen Larsson is an assistant professor in sustainable consumption patterns. Currently he is conducting research on consumption based accounting methods for air travel emissions and policy analysis for the aviation sector.

Jonas Nässén is an associate professor in Physical Resource Theory. His research concerns societal transitions towards long-term climate targets with a focus on the development of consumption patterns and technical energy efficiency.

Notes

1 Scope 2 is emissions from the consumption of purchased energy.

2 English: aviation, air travel, airport: German: Flug, Flughafen, Luftverkehr, Swedish: flyg, flygplats, Danish: fly, lufthavn, Norwegian: fly, flyplass.

3 Total number of cities registered in the Covenant of Mayors (1000) and the Compact of Mayors (500).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by VINNOVA under Grant number 2016-01743; Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas under Grant number 2013-128 and MISTRA (Stiftelsen för Miljöstrategisk Forskning) under Grant number Mistra Sustainable Consumption programme.