A Multi-level analysis and comparison of climate change policies in Argentina and Canada

Abstract

CAPITULO CON REFERATO.Purpose - This paper 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 paper then explains the positions and policies that have been implemented in the national and then local level of each country. Methodology/approach - This paper is an analysis and comparison of laws, policies and practices through not only a discursive analysis of their offical positive legal meaning, but also through an analysis of the their actual applied impact. A multi-level 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 surrrounds 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. 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 offers insights into the challenge of effective implementation of climate chanage mitigation and adaptation.