Description
In this paper, I develop a critical political economy account of the UK's 2008 Climate Change Act. This Act is at the core of the UK’s claims to climate leadership, and the relatively rapid decarbonisation that has occurred in the UK since it was passed. The Act committed the UK to legally binding emissions targets and founded the Climate Change Committee to advise on the UK’s carbon budgets, as well as potential opportunities to meet these budgets. In this paper, I argue that the Climate Change Act can be best understood as an attempt to formalise a technocratic system of climate governance focused on credibility for investors. Particularly, I examine how the Climate Change Act led to a system of climate governance that incorporated the neoliberal state's commitment to 'fiscal discipline', the protection of asset values and profitability. To develop this argument, I critically analyse the transformations in British climate politics that led to the Act being passed, and the system of climate governance that the Act created.
