Multilevel analysis and comparison of climate change policies in Argentina and Canada

Abstract

Purpose-This chapter discusses and compares the climate change policies of Argentina and Canada at the international, national, and local level. Starting with a discussion of both Argentina and Canada’s positions in the UNFCCC, the chapter then explains the positions and policies that have been implemented in the national and then local level of each country. Methodology/approach-This chapter is an analysis and comparison of laws, policies, and practices through not only a discursive analysis of their official positive legal meaning but also through an analysis of their actual applied impact. A multilevel institutional analysis is utilized such that the climate change policies of Argentina and Canada are analyzed at the international, national, and local level. Findings-At the international level, a discourse surrounds Argentina and Canada in terms of developing and developed country and global justice. At the national level, each country has different official laws and discourses surrounding climate change; however, at the regional level in both countries, many similarities exist in respect of climate change mitigation and adaptation in both positivistic legal meaning and actual applied reality. This chapter hypothesizes that a problematic gap exists between the climate change institutional framework and the “real” climate change being experienced by local people. Practical implications-The similarities in the actual applied experience of climate change mitigation and adaptation in Argentina (a developing country) and Canada (a developed country) at the regional level, contrasted with the different characteristics at the national and international level, offer insights into the challenge of effective implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation. Originality/value-The multilevel institutional analysis and comparison of Argentina and Canada in respect of climate change mitigation and adaptation reveal significant structural governance challenges for the effective implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation goals of the UNFCCC. Overcoming these challenges may facilitate implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation goals.