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Welcome. I am an Associate Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where I lead the Energy and Environment Policy Lab and the Climate Program of the Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative. I study the political economy of climate change and the energy transition. |
NEWS
national models of climate governance among major emitters
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January 2023
Journal article, Nature Climate Change National climate institutions could greatly impact the process of policy design and implementation. This Analysis identifies four models of climate governance for major emitters, estimates their policy ambitions and performance, then shows how they are related to macro features. |
green bargains: leveraging public investment to advance climate regulation
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November 2022
Journal article, Climate Policy Climate policy has entered a new era as public investment is increasingly moving to center stage, including recovery spending and long-term climate investment plans. While essential for decarbonization, public investment is not enough – the carrots of investment need to go hand in hand with regulatory sticks. |
why nations lead or lag in energy transitions
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October 2022
Journal article, Science Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has disrupted energy markets, producing price spikes reminiscent of the 1970s. Many suggest that the crisis may accelerate transitions away from fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Yet, governments have responded very differently to the price shock. Though some are prioritizing clean energy, others are doubling down on fossil fuel production. Why do countries respond so differently to the same problem? |
energy innovation funding and institutions in major economies
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September 2022
Journal article, Nature Energy Public funding and institutions for energy innovation are critical to achieving climate goals, but our understanding of their evolution, variation, and drivers is limited. Meckling et al. compile funding and institutional data across major economies and examine how they changed after the financial crisis, Mission Innovation and expanded competition with China. |
busting the myths around public investment in clean energy
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July 2022
Journal article, Nature Energy Critics have opposed clean energy public investment by claiming that governments must not pick winners, green subsidies enable rent-seeking behavior, and failed companies means failed policy. These arguments are problematic and should not determine the direction of energy investment policies. |
the climate advocacy gap
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June 2022
Journal article, Climatic Change Given the importance of advocacy for climate policy development, we ask how climate mitigation advocacy is distributed across US states. Specifically, we examine whether pro-climate groups—both environmental groups and clean energy interests—are concentrated where the politics are most opportune or the emissions are greatest. |
making industrial policy work for decarbonization
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December 2021
Journal article, Global Environmental Politics Industrial policy has begun to move into the center of debates on climate policy. This represents a shift away from climate policy as we know it—as classic environmental policy. Industrial policy and environmental policy differ in their policy goals, policy instruments, and distributional effects [...]. This raises questions about policy interactions between industrial and environmental policy in broader climate policy mixes and how these affect global decarbonization. |
strategic state capacity: how states counter opposition to climate policy
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July 2021
Journal article, Comparative Political Studies Winner, Best Paper on Public Policy Award, American Political Science Association When can states implement policies against the opposition from powerful interest groups? [...] We introduce the notion of strategic state capacity to explain this puzzle. It refers to the ability of the state to mobilize or demobilize interest groups in pursuit of policy goals. We identify four general types of strategies states use to counter opposition: recruiting allies, aligning interests, limiting access, and quieting interests. |
Creative learning and policy ideas: the global rise of green growth
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April 2021
Journal article, Perspectives on Politics We explain a major change in global environmental policy: the rise of green growth ideas among major international organizations, including the OECD, the UN, and the World Bank. Green growth ideas include new arguments drawn from Keynesian and Schumpeterian economics, which claim that environmental policies can drive economic growth. |
a policy roadmap for negative emissions using direct air capture
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April 2021
Journal article, Nature Communications Negative emission strategies are central to avoiding catastrophic climate change. Engineered solutions such as direct air capture are far from cost-competitive. As past low-carbon technology transitions suggest, this calls for policy and political strategies beyond carbon pricing. We adopt a policy sequencing perspective that identifies policies that could create niche markets, building political support for later widespread deployment of direct air capture. |
The evolution of ideas in global climate policy
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May 2020
Journal article, Nature Climate Change This analysis of global climate policy reports shows how economic ideas have shaped climate policy. The authors find a shift from neoclassical dominance to a more diversified discourse, which has expanded policy choices beyond market-based policies to include green innovation and industrial policy. Featured as cartoon by Eav Brennan |
U.s. foreign policy on climate and clean energy
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April 2020
Book chapter, Handbook of U.S. Environmental Policy The U.S. is a pivotal actor in international climate and clean energy politics. It was long the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, until it was overtaken by China in 2006, and U.S. companies occupy key positions in the global energy economy. Other countries look to the U.S. for leadership in crafting cooperative responses to tackle the challenge of decarbonization. The role of the U.S. in international climate politics, however, has displayed a peculiar pattern of engagement and disengagement. |
A new path for U.S. Climate politics
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September 2019
Journal article, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences What policies could mobilize business support for progressive and durable national climate policy in the United States? I examine the climate policy experiences of U.S. states and propose that a national clean energy standard combined with carefully allocated public investment in clean energy infrastructure and innovation could mobilize economic interests in support of decarbonization... |
the politics of technology bans: industrial policy competition and green goals for the auto industry
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December 2018
Journal article, Energy Policy After decades of failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector, several jurisdictions have in rapid succession announced future goals to phase out sales of internal combustion engine vehicles. This article argues that these announcements are predominantly a form of political signaling in a green industrial policy competition for alternative transport technologies, notably electric vehicles. |
global interdependence in clean energy transitions
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December 2018
Journal article, Business and Politics This article contends that we need to understand the effects of global interdependence on clean energy transitions. Shifts in forms of interdependence between firms—influenced by the rise of global supply chains—have new implications for policy choices made by governments. |
policy competition in clean technology: scaling up or innovating up?
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December 2018
Journal article, Business and Politics This paper argues that policy competition between lead and follower markets conditions the ability of governments to create durable competitive advantages in low-carbon technologies. Depending on the complexity of the technology, we observe two patterns of green industrial policy competition. |
sequencing to rachet up climate policy stringency
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October 2018
Journal article, Nature Climate Change The Paris Agreement formulates the goal of GHG neutrality in the second half of this century. Given that Nationally Determined Contributions are as yet insufficient, the question is through which policies can this goal be realized? Identifying policy pathways to ratchet up stringency is instrumental, but little guidance is available. We propose a policy sequencing framework and substantiate it using the cases of Germany and California. |
when do states disrupt industries? electric cars and the politics of innovation
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May 2018
Journal article, Review of International Political Economy When do states forge technological change in mature industries? [...] We examine this argument in the case of electric vehicle policy in Germany and the United States. Germany failed to disrupt its auto sector to transition to electric vehicles, while the United States adopted comprehensive policies for the manufacturing and commercialization of electric cars against incumbent opposition. |
the power of process: state capacity and climate policy
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February 2018
Journal article, Governance Winner, Evan J. Ringquist Best Paper Award, American Political Science Association State capacity is central to the provision of public goods, including environmental protection. Drawing on climate policy making, this article argues that the division of labor between the bureaucracy and legislature in policy formulation is a critical source of state capacity. It compares climate policy in California and Germany. |
policy sequencing toward decarbonization
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November 2017
Journal article, Nature Energy Low-carbon leaders such as California and the European Union have followed a distinct policy sequence that helps overcome some of the political challenges facing low-carbon policy by building economic interest groups in support of decarbonization and reducing the cost of technologies required for emissions reductions. However, while politically effective, this policy pathway faces significant challenges to environmental and cost effectiveness, including excess rent capture and lock-in... |
who wins in renewable energy? evidence from europe and the United States
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September 2017
Journal article, Energy Research and Social Science The emerging transition to renewable energy, such as wind and solar photovoltaics, creates winners and losers in electricity markets. The political battle unfolds largely between incumbent electric utilities on the one hand and challenger firms such as independent power producers on the other. Here, we provide the first cross-national study of renewable energy ownership, based on an original dataset of fifty-nine jurisdictions in Europe and the United States. |
protecting solar: global supply chains and business power
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June 2017
Journal article, New Political Economy Governments invested substantially in renewable energy industries in responding to climate change, while seeking to promote economic growth. They also engaged in a series of major trade disputes, notably in the solar photovoltaic and wind sectors... |
Globalizing solar: global supply chains and trade preferences
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May 2017
Journal article, International Studies Quarterly Global production is increasingly organized through supply chains made up of firms that specialize in specific stages of production. This raises an important question: how does firms’ participation in global supply chains affect their trade preferences? |
the developmental state in global regulation: economic change and climate policy
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April 2017
Journal article, European Journal of International Relations What are the origins of global regulation? This article proposes that the developmental state — the state investing in economic development — can be a source of global environmental regulation. Through industrial policy, the developmental state can promote structural economic change in polluting sectors that supports global regulatory policy in two ways... |
the politics of renewable energy trade: the us-china solar dispute
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March 2017
Journal article, Energy Policy The Chinese and US governments played significant roles in the development of renewable energy industries, seeing them as key growth sectors and crucial to addressing climate change. While the US and China cooperated in renewable energy development, since 2011 the countries have engaged in a protracted and major trade dispute in the solar photovoltaics industry... |
varieties of market-based policy: instrument choice in climate policy
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May 2016
Journal article, Environmental Politics Since the 1970s, European and US regulators have used different varieties of market-based environmental policy, which are rooted in competing types of liberalism: price instruments and quantity instruments, respectively. In the case of climate change, however, the EU and the US have converged on hybrid policy mixes. This convergence in instrument choice is examined in two cases: the emergence of the EU Emission Trading Scheme, i.e. the import of quantity regulation to the EU; and the creation of California’s feed-in tariff, i.e. the import of price regulation to the US... |
oil and state capitalism: government-firm coopetition in china and india
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December 2015
Journal article, Review of International Political Economy This paper examines the domestic sources of the internationalization of national oil companies (NOCs) in China and India. It argues that – counter to notions of state-led internationalization – the going abroad of NOCs reflects a pattern of ‘coopetition,’ i.e., the co-existence of cooperation and conflict between increasingly entrepreneurial NOCs and partially supportive and interventionist home governments. |
winning coalitions for climate policy: green industrial policy builds support for carbon regulation
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September 2015
Journal article, Science The gap is wide between the implications of climate science and the achievements of climate policy. Natural sciences tell us with increasing certainty that climate change is real, dangerous, and solvable; social sciences report that key constituencies largely support action. But current and planned policy remains weak and will allow a long-term increase in temperature of 3.6°C. How can we address the gap between science and policy? |
Free Trade for Green Trade: To support clean power, open up trade in green technology
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August 2015
Op-ed, Foreign Affairs In the run-up to the Paris talks at the end of the year, governments are preparing their strategies to negotiate national emissions reduction targets. But elsewhere, a different battle is unfolding as firms and governments compete to try to capture the benefits of the rise of the new green economy. A wave of trade disputes in clean energy industries is one result. Since 2010, at least 11 such cases have been initiated. Trade cases in solar photovoltaics, in particular, have emerged as some of the most politically charged in recent history... |
oppose, support, or hedge? Distributional effects, regulatory pressure, and business strategy in environmental politics
May 2015
Journal article, Global Environmental Politics
What explains the choice of corporate political strategy in environmental politics? Drawing on recent models of actor strategy formation in political economy, this article argues that basic material interests of firms are translated into strategies in the context of institutional environments. I advance a typological model that posits how distributional effects—positive versus negative—and perceived regulatory pressure—low versus high—interact in leading firms to adopt one of four ideal-type strategies: opposition, hedging, support, and non-participation...
Journal article, Global Environmental Politics
What explains the choice of corporate political strategy in environmental politics? Drawing on recent models of actor strategy formation in political economy, this article argues that basic material interests of firms are translated into strategies in the context of institutional environments. I advance a typological model that posits how distributional effects—positive versus negative—and perceived regulatory pressure—low versus high—interact in leading firms to adopt one of four ideal-type strategies: opposition, hedging, support, and non-participation...
Modi's solar dilemma: will he, won't he?
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August 2014
Interview, PV Magazine "The PV world waits to see which way Indian Prime Minister Modi will jump on solar duties. His decision is expected by August 22. Can the newly-elected P.M. unlock this potential mega market?..." |
the future of emissions trading
July 2014
Journal article, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change
Over the past 15 years, carbon markets have been set up by private and public actors at various geographic scales and with varying financial scope. The history of the early stage of carbon markets reveals a mixed record: the instrument diffused widely across the globe, while existing carbon markets performed rather slow, though anecdotal evidence suggests positive side effects on climate policymaking. Going forward, three key driving forces are likely to shape the future of emissions trading...
Journal article, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change
Over the past 15 years, carbon markets have been set up by private and public actors at various geographic scales and with varying financial scope. The history of the early stage of carbon markets reveals a mixed record: the instrument diffused widely across the globe, while existing carbon markets performed rather slow, though anecdotal evidence suggests positive side effects on climate policymaking. Going forward, three key driving forces are likely to shape the future of emissions trading...
Avoiding sunstroke: assessing national competitiveness in the global solar race
November 2013
Report with Jeffrey Ball, Stanford University
The report, “Avoiding Sunstroke: Assessing National Competitiveness in the Global Solar Race,” reflects the conclusions of some 20 top executives of solar companies from five countries who met at Stanford for an unusual day-long scenario-planning exercise to try to answer a crucial question about the small but rapidly growing solar industry: What will it look like in 2025? Which sorts of companies, and which countries, will do what?
Report with Jeffrey Ball, Stanford University
The report, “Avoiding Sunstroke: Assessing National Competitiveness in the Global Solar Race,” reflects the conclusions of some 20 top executives of solar companies from five countries who met at Stanford for an unusual day-long scenario-planning exercise to try to answer a crucial question about the small but rapidly growing solar industry: What will it look like in 2025? Which sorts of companies, and which countries, will do what?
Economic instruments for climate change
April 2013
Book chapter with Cameron Hepburn, Oxford University
in: Falkner, Robert (ed.): Handbook of Global Climate and Environment Policy. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Book chapter with Cameron Hepburn, Oxford University
in: Falkner, Robert (ed.): Handbook of Global Climate and Environment Policy. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Business as a global actor
April 2013
Book chapter with Jennifer Clapp, University of Waterloo
in: Falkner, Robert (ed.): Handbook of Global Climate and Environment Policy. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Book chapter with Jennifer Clapp, University of Waterloo
in: Falkner, Robert (ed.): Handbook of Global Climate and Environment Policy. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Carbon Coalitions: Business, Climate Politics, and the Rise of Emissions Trading
August 2011
Book, MIT Press
Over the past decade, carbon trading has emerged as the industrialized world's primary policy response to global climate change despite considerable controversy. With carbon markets worth $144 billion in 2009, carbon trading represents the largest manifestation of the trend toward market-based environmental governance. In Carbon Coalitions, Jonas Meckling presents the first comprehensive study on the rise of carbon trading and the role business played in making this policy instrument a central pillar of global climate governance.
Meckling explains how a transnational coalition of firms and a few market-oriented environmental groups actively promoted international emissions trading as a compromise policy solution in a situation of political stalemate. The coalition sidelined not only environmental groups that favored taxation and command-and-control regulation but also business interests that rejected any emissions controls. Considering the sources of business influence, Meckling emphasizes the importance of political opportunities (policy crises and norms), coalition resources (funding and legitimacy,) and political strategy (mobilizing state allies and multilevel advocacy).
Meckling presents three case studies that represent milestones in the rise of carbon trading: the internationalization of emissions trading in the Kyoto Protocol (1989–2000); the creation of the EU Emissions Trading System (1998–2008); and the reemergence of emissions trading on the U.S. policy agenda (2001–2009). These cases and the theoretical framework that Meckling develops for understanding the influence of transnational business coalitions offer critical insights into the role of business in the emergence of market-based global environmental governance.
Book, MIT Press
Over the past decade, carbon trading has emerged as the industrialized world's primary policy response to global climate change despite considerable controversy. With carbon markets worth $144 billion in 2009, carbon trading represents the largest manifestation of the trend toward market-based environmental governance. In Carbon Coalitions, Jonas Meckling presents the first comprehensive study on the rise of carbon trading and the role business played in making this policy instrument a central pillar of global climate governance.
Meckling explains how a transnational coalition of firms and a few market-oriented environmental groups actively promoted international emissions trading as a compromise policy solution in a situation of political stalemate. The coalition sidelined not only environmental groups that favored taxation and command-and-control regulation but also business interests that rejected any emissions controls. Considering the sources of business influence, Meckling emphasizes the importance of political opportunities (policy crises and norms), coalition resources (funding and legitimacy,) and political strategy (mobilizing state allies and multilevel advocacy).
Meckling presents three case studies that represent milestones in the rise of carbon trading: the internationalization of emissions trading in the Kyoto Protocol (1989–2000); the creation of the EU Emissions Trading System (1998–2008); and the reemergence of emissions trading on the U.S. policy agenda (2001–2009). These cases and the theoretical framework that Meckling develops for understanding the influence of transnational business coalitions offer critical insights into the role of business in the emergence of market-based global environmental governance.