TY - JOUR
T1 - When climate mainstreaming is the law
T2 - a case study of the Climate Change Act 2017 (Vic)
AU - Foerster, Anita
AU - Bleby, Alice
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge this research was supported by a Monash Business School Impact Acceleration Grant Scheme grant in 2021. The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (Vic) (since renamed the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action) contributed extensively in kind to the research design and research. Research reported in this article has been conducted in accordance with Monash University Ethics Approval (Project ID: 28928).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Sydney Law Review and authors.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Framework climate legislation has been introduced in many jurisdictions around the world, at the national and subnational scales, to govern climate change mitigation and adaptation activities by governments. The Climate Change Act 2017 (Vic) is an example which embodies many of the typical features of framework climate laws: emissions reduction targets, mitigation strategies and adaptation plans. Yet the Victorian legislation also includes explicit provision for climate mainstreaming: a general legal duty to take account of climate change, where relevant, in government decisions, policies, programs and processes, and a more specific duty to have regard to climate change considerations in prescribed decisions. These mainstreaming provisions reflect a legislative intent to promote an integrated, whole-of-government approach to climate change. This recognises that a broad range of policy areas both contribute to climate change and are affected by climate change, and that effectively integrating climate change across government functions is critical to achieve mitigation and adaptation objectives. This article reports on an empirical study exploring the effect of the mainstreaming provisions on government practices in Victoria. Interviews with Victorian public servants from a wide range of policy and operational areas provide insights into the value, role and function of legislation in supporting climate mainstreaming, as well as lessons from practice in how to effectively operationalise legal mainstreaming duties.
AB - Framework climate legislation has been introduced in many jurisdictions around the world, at the national and subnational scales, to govern climate change mitigation and adaptation activities by governments. The Climate Change Act 2017 (Vic) is an example which embodies many of the typical features of framework climate laws: emissions reduction targets, mitigation strategies and adaptation plans. Yet the Victorian legislation also includes explicit provision for climate mainstreaming: a general legal duty to take account of climate change, where relevant, in government decisions, policies, programs and processes, and a more specific duty to have regard to climate change considerations in prescribed decisions. These mainstreaming provisions reflect a legislative intent to promote an integrated, whole-of-government approach to climate change. This recognises that a broad range of policy areas both contribute to climate change and are affected by climate change, and that effectively integrating climate change across government functions is critical to achieve mitigation and adaptation objectives. This article reports on an empirical study exploring the effect of the mainstreaming provisions on government practices in Victoria. Interviews with Victorian public servants from a wide range of policy and operational areas provide insights into the value, role and function of legislation in supporting climate mainstreaming, as well as lessons from practice in how to effectively operationalise legal mainstreaming duties.
KW - climate change mainstreaming
KW - framework climate legislation
KW - public policy mainstreaming
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85189360674&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85189360674
SN - 0082-0512
VL - 45
SP - 435
EP - 466
JO - The Sydney Law Review
JF - The Sydney Law Review
IS - 4
ER -