Concerns about international competitiveness and the associated global institutions and processes of trade are at the heart of resistance to ambitious climate policy. There is tension between the need to be competitive and the significant costs of decarbonisation in the transition to low-carbon economies. The World Trade Organisation and related agreements simultaneously promote contradictory goals: the removal of 'barriers to trade' including 'behind the border' environmental regulation and the need to support 'sustainable development'. A particular example of the problems for action on climate change are Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions whereby corporations have been able to sue governments for damages allegedly incurred through the operation of government environmental regulations. Five actions are suggested: raising awareness of the benefits of decarbonisation, developing 'green finance', pursuing standardisation of low carbon technologies, reforming trade law to encourage low-carbon goods and services and ensuring copherence across international frameworks.

The Introduction highlights the opportunities for a healthier and wealthier society following a transition to a low-carbon economy but also notes the serious consequences of inaction. It outlines the aim of the book to help policy-makers with practical guidance and summarises the various sections of the book including: the technologies available, economic projections for a low-carbon Australian economy and comparisons with two emerging giants – Indonesia and India, the sectoral analysis encompassing cities and their precincts, industry and manufacturing, tranportation and regional environments, land use, forestry and agriculture.

Introduction

As previous chapters in this volume attest, there is a compelling case for cross-sectoral management of climate, energy and water. The interdependencies are tangible, the tradeoffs are becoming evident to the wider community and the framing of decisions that need to be taken are more focussed. This chapter approaches cross-sectoral co-ordination substantively as a matter of managing governance and institutional dynamics. Each of the sectors – climate (adaptation and mitigation), energy and water (with an emphasis here on urban water systems) – are considered within separate institution and governance frameworks. Each has their own institutional ‘logic’, comprising history, management culture, policy settings, statutory requirements, markets and operational practices (after Streeck and Thelen 2005). Many chapters in this volume are devoted to the technical aspects of the cross-sectoral nexus, but it is not until the institutional attributes of each of these sectors are defined that a systematic approach to alignment and co-ordination can be developed. Compared to the relatively mature technical analysis of climate, energy and water issues, the governance and institutional dimensions of cross-sectoral integration and co-ordination are relatively poorly examined and under-reported in the academic and policy literature (Kenway 2011). In this chapter, several key questions on cross-sectoral co-ordination are addressed:

1. • What are the governance and institutional components of the cross-sectoral ‘nexus’ that need to be managed?

2. • What are the inherent institutional similarities and differences between the climate, water and energy sectors? How do these enable or hinder effective management of this nexus?

3. • What would maximise the effectiveness of cross-sectoral governance?

In answering these questions, the chapter makes two significant contributions to the literature. First, we define and explore each of these three sectors as separate ‘institutions’ and consider cross-sectoral co-ordination as a task of institutional linkage and alignment; second, we frame this co-ordination task as one of co-ordinated governance or ‘meta-governance’, a task that requires purposeful and deliberative framing and enacting of co-ordination across institutionally different sectors, separate jurisdictions or levels of authority, and modes and mechanisms of governance.

Introduction

Combined, the chapters in this volume present a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the interdependencies between the climate, energy and water sectors, and the knock-on consequences of those interdependencies for other issues such as food production and biodiversity conservation. In many respects, the book makes for sobering reading, and it is worth recalling some of the most alarming facts presented by the authors, which stress the enormity and urgency of the challenges ahead.

To recall, the problem

In 2012, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted 35 per cent growth in annual global energy demand from 2010 to 2035, and under a forecast scenario that accounts for planned energy-related policies and announced commitments, it estimated global oil, coal and natural gas consumption to expand from 2010 to 2035 by 13 per cent, 21 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively (IEA 2012, cited in Chapter 4). Significantly, even with an anticipated increase in market share for renewable energy (eg seven-fold and twenty-five-fold projected increases in wind and solar photovoltaic generation, respectively), fossil fuels are still expected to satisfy the vast majority of future energy demand (IEA 2012, cited in Chapter 4). If the IEA projections hold true, resulting carbon dioxide emissions would rise by over 20 per cent, corresponding to a long-term average global temperature increase of 3.6 degree Celsius (IEA 2012), ushering in a suite of climate impacts.

Those impacts in turn pose major, near-term risks for energy systems, largely from episodic disruptions due to extreme weather events, especially in particularly vulnerable regions. For both energy supply and energy use, extreme weather events such as hurricanes, tornados, floods, droughts, heat waves and wildfires pose significant threats to sustainable energy services and thus to societies and economies (IPCC 2014). Both electricity demand and electricity supply will be affected by increases in both average and extreme temperatures, as heating requirements reduce and cooling requirements increase.