A decade of climate change negotiations almost ended in failure because of the different policy approaches of the industrialized states. Japan, Germany, and the United States exemplify the deep divisions that exist among states in their approaches to environmental protection. Germany is following what could be called the green social welfare state approach to environmental protection, which is increasingly guided by what is known as the precautionary principle. In contrast, the US is increasingly leaning away from the use of environmental regulations, towards the use of market-based mechanisms to control pollution and cost-benefit analysis to determine when environmental protection should take precedence over economic activities. Internal political divisions mean that Japan sits uneasily between these two approaches. Miranda A. Schreurs uses a variety of case studies to explore why these different policy approaches emerged and what their implications are, examining the differing ideas, actors, and institutions in each state.

Human beings have been concerned about nature and their place in it for millennia. Disquiet about the consequences of human action on the natural environment date back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. The efforts of the green movement can be traced back to the nineteenth century. In this period, individuals, groups, and organizations began campaigning for the conservation and preservation of natural areas and the protection of wildlife species. Efforts to combat pollution also began. It was not until the 1960s, however, that the green movement in its more modern incarnation emerged. The green movements that arose at this time maintained the concerns with conservation, preservation, and industrial pollution held by earlier generations, but added to their agenda new issues, including justice, equality, participatory democracy, and sustainability. The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of the Green Movement provides a detailed and comprehensive overview of green parties and movements, green issues, and green concepts. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on countries in the world where green parties or proto-parties have formed, green movement organizations, major international environmental conferences, and green concepts. This useful reference will be greatly valued by students, academics, journalists, and policymakers alike.

Human beings have been concerned about nature and their place in it for millennia. Disquiet about the consequences of human action on the natural environment date back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. The efforts of the green movement can be traced back to the 19th century. In this period, individuals, groups, and organizations began campaigning for the conservation and preservation of natural areas and the protection of wildlife species. Efforts to combat pollution also began. It was not until the 1960s, however, that the green movement in its more modern incarnation emerged. The green movements that arose at this time maintained the concerns with conservation, preservation, and industrial pollution held by earlier generations, but added to their agenda new issues, including justice, equality, participatory democracy, and sustainability. The A to Z of the Green Movement provides a detailed and comprehensive overview of green parties and movements, green issues, and green concepts. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on countries in the world where green parties or proto-parties have formed, green movement organizations, major international environmental conferences, and green concepts. This useful reference will be greatly valued by students, academics, journalists, and policymakers alike.

Managing a successful transition of the current energy supply system to less carbon emitting options, ensuring a safe and secure supply during the whole process and in the long term, is one of the largest challenges of our time. Various approaches and first implementations show that it is not only technological issue, but also a matter of societal acceptance and acceptability, considering basic ethic values of the society. The main foci of the book are, thus, to develop an understanding about the specific challenges of the scientific policy advice in the area, to explore typical current approaches for the analysis of future energy systems and to develop criteria for the quality assessment and guidelines for the improvement of such studies. The book provides assistance to the interpretation of existing studies and guidelines for setting up and carrying out new analyses as well as for communicating and applying the results. Thereby, it aims to support the involved actors such as the respective scientific experts and researchers as well as decision makers, energy suppliers, stakeholders and the interested public in designing procedures for a successful transition process. The study elaborates consistent interdisciplinary advice as contribution for realising a continuously safe and secure, long-term viable energy supply in spite of diverse interests, multi-level responsibilities, multi-dimensional processes, large uncertainties and lack of knowledge about future developments.

An important aim behind the restructuring of Germany’s and Europe’s electricity systems is to reduce the environmental burden, especially with respect to greenhouse gas emissions, of the current systems. Emissions must be brought down to a level that is sustainable in the long run and consistent with greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. Meeting these goals will require a system (as best as current knowledge suggests) that will be able to cope simultaneously with the fundamental demands for economic efficiency, environmental sustainability and supply security. Making use of existing scenarios, this study sketches such a system. It focuses in particular on auxiliary systems such as energy storage methods and network extensions. The study introduces technologies that can balance electricity in energy systems and that can serve as enabling technologies for the integration of large quantities of renewable energies in the power supply system. It begins with a discussion of normative aims for the future electricity system before continuing with a description of current policies and political developments and an overview of relevant existing energy system studies. These sections serve as background for the remainder of the study. They are followed by discussion and analysis of the growing demand for means to balance the fluctuations found in electricity generated in power systems with a high penetration of renewable energies, the potentials of diverse technologies, requirements for electrical networks, economic impacts and important legal issues. Finally, the main challenges to the achievement of developing balancing technologies and processes for renewable electricity-dominant systems are summarised and recommendations made.

This paper surveys various strategies for promoting the development and deployment of green energy technologies.

cross-referenced dictionary entries on green movement organizations, major international environmental conferences, green concepts, and countries where green parties or proto-parties have formed. This useful reference will be valuable to students, academics, activists, journalists, and policymakers alike." --Book Jacket.

Climate change is an issue that requires integrated action at multiple levels of government and within the spheres of politics, economics, and society. National, regional, and local governments have both distinct and complementary roles in developing climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. Compared with the attention that has been given to international and national activities in East Asia, relatively limited attention has been paid to the role of urban and regional governments in combating global climate change. Cities and provinces are initiating their own climate action plans, positioning themselves as environmental model cities, and joining local, national, and international networks for climate change. This article examines urban and prefectural climate policies in China, Japan, and South Korea within a multilevel governance framework.