Technical and Institutional Capacity for Decarbonizing Urban Transport Systems

• In Event: Subnational Issues in Environmental Policy

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the politics of technical capacity for climate change policy by reporting on the role of techno-economic modeling in efforts to decarbonize the transportation systems of major metropolitan areas in North America. It draws on over thirty key informant interviews with transport policy and modeling experts in Montreal, Toronto and Los Angeles over 2020-2021. While in in different countries with different political conditions, Canada and California have pursued cooperation in various areas of climate policy, including in the transportation sector. Municipal governments in all three metropolitan areas have also made significant commitments to the decarbonization of their transportation systems. Such comparison allows us to evaluate the relative impact of different technical capacities and institutional requirements for decarbonizing transportation systems.

California in particular is recognized as a global climate leader, possessing high levels of technical and institutional capacity for climate policy. But concerns have been raised about the extent to which its technical and institutional capacity can be replicated in other jurisdictions. There are also concerns about the effectiveness of California’s unique approach to the decarbonization of the metropolitan regional transportation systems. Under the Sustainable Communities Act (SCA), metropolitan regions in California must adopt “regional climate plan targets” that require reductions in greenhouse gas emission per vehicle miles traveled. The SCA also requires sophisticated transportation modeling exercises to demonstrate conformity with these targets. This builds on set of US federal-municipal institutions, regulatory requirements and financial incentives for reducing regional atmospheric pollution constructed around Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs).

Results suggest that formal institutional requirements for modeling such as those in California provide political benefits that accelerate decarbonization. In California, the institutionalization of modeling in the transportation system planning process has render it more transparent. Dedicated funding for transportation system modeling in Los Angeles also reduces opportunities for political interference, which appears more prevalent in Montreal and Toronto where accusations of “policy-based evidence-making” were common. Importantly, institutions and organizations such as the SCA and MPOs found in California have no analog in the Canadian context. However, in Los Angeles, challenges with data availability and other elements of technical modeling are broadly similar to those observed in our two Canadian metropolitan regions. This, we submit, is due to the socialization and policy learning environments that facilitate the exchange of technical knowledge for transportation system modeling.

Our findings thus provide additional evidence of the importance of distinguishing between institutional and technical capacity for climate policy. Technical capacity for sophisticated climate policy might be more easily replicated across jurisdictions and levels of governance, while institutional capacity for realizing technical potential remains a greater challenge. We conclude with a reflection on implications of our study for the diffusion of climate policy instruments and the cultivation of policy capacity for bottom-up climate action.

Author

• Mark Purdon, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)