Faculty of Business and Economics, Chair of Business Administration, esp. Environmental Management and Accounting
„Climate Change as Opportunities for Cities—
Innovations in Adaptation Policy “
Jo-Ting Huang, Prof. Dr. Edeltraud Guenther
ICREP Conference: Improving energy access through climate finance
University of Twente, The Netherlands, 28 March 2013
Introduction
Perception
• It is costly to adapt to climate change.
• Adaptation is counter-effective to local economic development.
• Current state-of-art literature mainly addresses the cost of inaction.
Hurdles of
climate
adaptation
• Mitigation vs. adaptation
• Expensive costs
• Priority
Research
interests
Research
contribution
• Does it pay for cities to adapt to climate change?
• To present benefits of local climate change adaptation to motivate local
governments to address climate change.
• To provide the positive cases which exploit opportunities of adaptation to
the current literature.
Chair of Business Administration
Environmental Management and Accounting
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Literature review
• Climate change adaptation is critical for long-term sustainability for
economies, societies, and environments (O’Brien et al, 2012).
• Relatively small amount of information and literature on adaptation
benefits. The current literature mainly addresses the costs of inaction in
climate change (Stern, 2007).
• The lack of positive literature of local adaptation options to provide a
positive influence on motivating local economies to address climate
change adaptation (Eisenack and Hoffmann, 2012).
• A wider definition benefits should be also considered, including social and
environmental costs and benefits, for instance, job creation, institutional
adaptive capacity or ecosystem services (UNFCCC, 2011).
• First mover advantage addresses that innovation creates competitiveness
(Porter, 1995)
• Definition of adaptation by UNFCCC “an adjustment in natural or human
systems in response to actual or expected climate stimuli or their effects,
which moderates harm or exploits benefit opportunities” (IPCC, 2001).
Chair of Business Administration
Environmental Management and Accounting
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Research questions and Methodology
Main research
questions
1. How are economic
opportunities driven
by cities’ efforts to
adapt to climate
change?
2. What is the role of
innovation in cities’
climate change
adaptation?
Chair of Business Administration
Data availability
Methods
CDP database and
questionnaires
responded by cities
(65 cities in 2012)
Content analysis,
descriptive statistics,
crisp-set qualitative
comparative
analysis, public
sector innovation
model
Environmental Management and Accounting
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Questionnaires of CDP Cities 2012
Risks
• Do current and/or anticipated effects of climate change present significant physical
risks to your city?
• Effects of climate change
Opportunities
• Does climate change present any economic opportunities for your city?
• If yes, please indicate the opportunities and describe how the city is positioning
itself to take advantage of them.
• Economic opportunity
• Describe how the city is maximizing this opportunity
• If not, why not?
• Please describe any other opportunities (e.g. social or physical) that climate
change presents for your city.
Chair of Business Administration
Environmental Management and Accounting
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Questionnaires of CDP Cities 2012
Adaptation
• Do you have a plan for increasing your city's resilience to the expected physical
effects of climate change?
• Effects of climate change
• Actions to reduce vulnerability
• What is the current status of this initiative as it relates to your city?
• Which statement best characterizes the type of initiative?
• Which statement best describes how this initiative is funded or financed?
• Please describe any other efforts you have undertaken or will undertake to
ensure business and operational continuity - for both the city government and the
businesses located in your city - in the event of a significant weather-related
event.
• If not, why not?
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Environmental Management and Accounting
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Sample: 65 Cities
Source: CDP cities 2012
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Environmental Management and Accounting
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Findings: opportunities in cities
Risks and opportunities of climate change in cities
Cities (N=65)
No
Don’t know
Yes
Risks
1
4
60
Economic
5
6 (4+2)
54
opportunities
Finding 1: Among 65 responding cities, 86% of cities
confirmed that they have economic opportunities in
climate change efforts. 38 Cities presented other climate
change opportunities (e.g. social or physical).
Chair of Business Administration
Environmental Management and Accounting
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Findings: Climate change opportunities
Economic opportunities in cities
Number of
cities (N=65)
Green jobs
Development of new business industries
Additional funding options
Improved efficiency of operations
49
37
22
17
Increased green entrepreneurship
Increased energy security
Carbon finance income
15
13
6
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Environmental Management and Accounting
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Findings: relation between economic
opportunities and adaptation efforts
Cities
Economic
opportunities
Adaptation
Plan
Adaptation
Actions
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
?
1
1
Bangkok
Thailand
0
1
1
Basel
Switzerland
0
0
0
Curitiba
Brazil
?
0
0
Ekurhuleni
South Africa
0
0
0
Rome
Italy
0
0
0
San Salvador
El Salvador
0
0
0
Taipei
Taiwan
0
1
1
Warsaw
Poland
?
1
1
Chair of Business Administration
Environmental Management and Accounting
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Findings: relation between economic
opportunities and adaptation efforts
Cities
Economic
opportunities
Adaptation
Plan
Adaptation
Actions
San Francisco
United States
1
0
0
Manchester
United Kingdom
1
0
0
Dallas
United States
1
0
0
1
1
1
53 Cities
Results of set-theoretic method qualitative comparative analysis (crisp-set):
~P~A(X)=~O (5 cases confirmed; 4 cases contradictory)
PA(X)=O (53 cases confirmed; 3 cases contradictory)
What is X?
Chair of Business Administration
Environmental Management and Accounting
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Types of innovation
Oslo Manual (private sector)
Public sector
product innovation
service innovation
process innovation
process innovation
organisational innovation
organisational innovation
marketing innovation
communication innovation
(Source: European Public Sector Innovation Scoreboard (EPSIS) –
Methodology report, 2012)
Chair of Business Administration
Environmental Management and Accounting
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Typology of public sector innovation
Typology
Product innovation
Definition
new products (e.g. new instrumentation)
Service innovation
new ways in which services are provided to users (e.g. online tax
forms).
new ways in which organizational processes are designed (e.g.
administrative reorganization into front- and back-office
processes; process mapping leading to new approaches);
Process innovation
Position innovation
new contexts or ‘customers’ (e.g. the Connexions service for
young people (http://www.connexions-direct.com/));
Strategic innovation
new goals or purposes of the organization (e.g. community
policing; foundation hospitals)
new forms of citizen engagement, and democratic institutions
(e.g. area forums; devolved government)
Governance innovation
Rhetorical innovation
Chair of Business Administration
new language and new concepts (e.g. as used for the
introduction of congestion charging for London, or a carbon tax).
Environmental Management and Accounting
(Source: Hartley, 2006; OECD, 2009)
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Policy innovations based on regional innovation system
Institutions
Animators
Universities, research
institutes
Formal rules
Building code,
Bidding rules,
municipal plans
Physical
infrastructure
Adaptive
buildings, floating
housing
Infrastructure
Social capital
Stakeholder engagement:
scientists, academics,
economists, risk management,
insurance,
Public financial
and legal experts
support
Firms: specialization and concentration of
firms and knowledge in the center of the
cluster
A to develop nine cluster
Supports of businesses
fields, for example, environmental technology,
health, living, well-being, and etc.
Technological
infrastructure
Mapping software, future
scenario software, green
roofs for storm water
Municipal budget,
international and
national funding
Venture capital
Project-based
adaptation plans
Knowledge infrastructure
Working platform for
stakeholders,
assessment tools,
committees
Incentives
(adapted from Andersson and Karlsson (2004); Eriksson, 2000)
Conclusion
In the sample of selected 65 cities:
• 86% of cities confirmed that they have economic opportunities
in climate change efforts. 58% Cities presented other climate
change opportunities
• There is correlation between climate change adaptation
efforts and economic opportunities in selected 65 cities.
• Innovation is a sufficiency condition for cities to obtain
economic opportunities.
Further steps:
• Regression analysis on financial performance of cities
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References
CDP, 2012, Measurement for management - CDP Cities 2012 Global Report - Including special report on
C40 Cities.
Eisenack, K., Hoffmann, E., A Synthesis of Barriers to Adaptation. 6. Workshop on Social Sciences in
Climate Change Adaptation. University of Kassel, Germany. (Presentation)
Eriksson, A. (2000), Regionala Innovationssystem – Från Teori till Genomförande
(Regional Innovation Systems – from theory to accomplishment), Swedish Office of Science and
Technology, Stockholm
European Public Sector Innovation Scoreboard (EPSIS) – Methodology report, 2012
Hartley, J. and J. Benington (2006). Copy and Paste, or Graft and Transplant? Knowledge Sharing
Through Inter-Organizational. Public money & management, 26 (2): 101-108
IPCC, 2001. Climate change 2001; impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, Report of WorkingGroup II of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Johansson, B., Karlsson, C. & Stough, R.R. (eds.), 2004, The Emerging Digital Economy:
Entrepreneurship, Clusters and Policy, Springer-Verlag, Berlin
Nauta, F., & Kausbergen, P. (2009). OECD Literature review. Public sector innovation. Lectoraat
innovatie rapport.
O’Brien, K., Pelling, M., Patwardhan, A., Hallegatte, S., Maskrey, A., Oki, T., OswaldSpring, U., Wilbanks, T., Yanda, P.Z., 2012: Toward a sustainable and resilient future.
Porter, M.E., van der Linde, C., 1995. Toward a new conception of the environmentcompetitiveness relationship. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 9, 4, pp. 97–118.
Stern, N., 2007. The economics of climate change: the Stern review. Cambridge University press.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 2007. Climate
Change:
Impacts, Vulnerabilities and Adaptation
in Developing Countries. UNFCCC:
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Environmental Management and Accounting
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Bonn.
Thank you for your attention!
For more questions: www.tu-dresden.de/wwbwlbu/en
E-Mail:
jo-ting.huang@tu-dresden.de
Technische Universität Dresden is validated according to EMAS
regulations since January 2003, successful revalidation in
December 2006 and in December 2015. Information: http://tudresden.de/die_tu_dresden/umweltschutz?set_language=en&cl=en
Chair of Business Administration
Environmental Management and Accounting
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