Katherine Pearce

Topic

Catalyzing Local Climate Action: Can Regional Collaboration on Support Transformative Change?

School of Environmental Studies

Date & location

• Wednesday, April 17, 2024

• 11:00 A.M.

• Clearihue Building, Room B021

• And Virtual Defence

Reviewers

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Karena Shaw, School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria (Supervisor)

• Dr. Deborah Curran, School of Environmental Studies, UVic (Member) 

External Examiner

• Dr. Matthew Paterson, Department of Environmental Politics, University of Manchester 

Chair of Oral Examination

• Dr. Tamara Krawchenko, School of Pacific and Asian Studies, UVic

   

Abstract

The urgent threat of climate change demands an unprecedented scale of transformation, calling for new ways of thinking about how institutions can address the challenge. A multiplicity of responses at various scales have emerged, including the burgeoning role of local governments, which have a key role to play in effective climate policy and implementation, yet also face barriers that can constrain climate action. As well as lack of capacity and resources, political will, and institutional challenges, local governments are constrained by geographical scales and tiers of governance, as climate action and impacts frequently extend beyond jurisdictional boundaries. This study sought to address a critical gap in knowledge related to regionally coordinated climate action in Canada, integrating insights from an interdisciplinary set of literature and building upon O’Brien’s (2018) three spheres of transformation framework in order to draw out the potential for regional collaboration to support transformative climate action. Specifically, the study aimed to identify the primary barriers to advancing climate action in the Vancouver Island and Coastal region of British Columbia from the perspective of local government staff and elected officials, and to explore whether and how these barriers could be more effectively navigated through regional scale collaboration. Data were collected through 15 semi-structured interviews and thematically analyzed to identify climate action barriers and enablers.

 The study revealed key barriers in three thematic categories – resistance, capacity, and governance, with barriers related to resistance and governance being more deeply entrenched but also offering greater opportunities to leverage transformational change. Mapping these barriers onto O’Brien’s three spheres suggests a need to move beyond behavioural changes and technologies to target deeper leverage points related to systems, structures, and the personal sphere in order to achieve the transformational change required to respond to climate change. The study illuminated potential actions at various scales of governance to address resistance, capacity, and governance challenges. Collaboration, a significant enabler at the regional scale, offers the opportunity to address barriers to climate action through supporting horizontal and vertical alignment on policy and communications, sharing resources, building capacity and using existing capacity more effectively, supporting personal and collective resilience, and advocating collectively for needs. These findings indicate strong potential for catalyzing action through greater coordination at multiple governance scales, including the regional scale, providing hope that a collaborative approach might help to unlock necessary transformative change.