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Science–policy interaction in international environmental politics: an analysis of the ozone regime and the climate regime

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Abstract

The relationship between science and policy in international environmental regimes has attracted much scholarly attention in the past decades. One of the most recognized approaches to the science–policy interaction in international environmental politics is the ‘knowledge-based’ epistemic communities approach. This approach contends that knowledge generated by scientists or other ‘knowledge-based’ experts, under certain circumstances, influences governments attempting to negotiate international agreements. However, the question how governments exert influence on scientific knowledge has not been analyzed in much detail. Therefore, this article explores the impact of national interests on scientific knowledge. Building upon an ‘interest-based’ approach to the science–policy interaction, the article demonstrates that national interests considerably influence the production and interpretation of key scientific findings in the ozone regime and the climate regime. This finding challenges the epistemic communities approach and underlines the urgent need to systematically analyze how governments exert influence on scientific knowledge to enforce and protect national interests.

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Notes

  1. International (environmental) regimes can be understood as “social institutions that consist of agreed upon principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programs that govern the interactions of actors in specific issue areas” (Young 1997, p. 5-6).

  2. This model has received widespread recognition in global environmental politics. Examples of empirical studies that build upon the model are Rowlands (1995a), Kawashima (1997) and Mitchell (2002).

  3. Sprinz and Vaahtoranta are aware that skin cancer may also be caused by other factors and that increased ultraviolet radiation has several adverse effects (1994, p. 88).

  4. For a detailed study on the origins of the IPCC, see Agrawala (1998a).

  5. Australia, Canada and Norway are also net fossil fuel exporters. They are, however, far less dependent on fossil fuel exports than the OPEC members and Russia (International Energy Agency 2009).

  6. The analysis of the OPEC group’s climate research policy focuses on Saudi Arabia because this country is commonly perceived as the ‘spearhead’ of the OPEC group in the climate regime (personal communication with an IPCC Bureau member).

  7. Personal communication with a German government official.

Abbreviations

AOSIS:

Alliance of Small Island States

CFC:

Chlorofluorocarbon

EC:

European Community

EPA:

Environmental Protection Agency

GHG:

Greenhouse gas

IPCC:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

NASA:

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NOAA:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

OPEC:

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

UK:

United Kingdom

UNEP:

United Nations Environment Program

US:

United States

WMO:

World Meteorological Organization

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Acknowledgments

Earlier versions of this article have been presented at the 3rd Graduate ECPR Conference at Dublin City University from 30 August to 1 September 2010 and at the Annual Workshop of the Environmental Policy Research Center at Freie Universität Berlin from 10–11 July 2009. For helpful and constructive comments, I would like to thank Janina Barkemeyer, Ina Baum, Per-Olof Busch, Christian Flachsland, Harald Fuhr, Barbara Heisserer, Olav Hohmeyer, Otto Keck, Markus Lederer, Jessica Pape, Roger A. Pielke, Miranda Schreurs, Valentin Schröder, Reinhard Schumacher, Jana Schwenzien, Detlef Sprinz and two anonymous reviewers. Moreover, I am indebted to a number of scientists, environmental advocates and national delegates involved in the work of the IPCC, who wish to remain anonymous. They helped me to understand the formal as well as informal rules and procedures of the IPCC.

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  1. Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Thomas Hickmann

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Hickmann, T. Science–policy interaction in international environmental politics: an analysis of the ozone regime and the climate regime. Environ Econ Policy Stud 16, 21–44 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10018-013-0068-4

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