Read more
This book is ground breaking in its study of business actors in climate and energy politics. While various studies have demonstrated the influence of business actors across multiple policy domains, this is the first to examine the behaviour of business actors in energy centric industries in the US that will be vital for achieving a clean energy transition, namely the oil, gas, coal, utility, and renewable industries.
Drawing on almost 80 interviews with senior energy executives, lobbyists, and policymakers, it asks two central questions: (i) how and why are business actors shaping energy policy contests in the US? And (ii) what are the implications for policymakers? In answering these questions, this book provides new insights about the preferences and strategies of business in the energy sector, and, significantly, it identifies strategies for policymakers seeking to regulate energy in the face of political resistance from incumbent fossil fuel industries.
This book will be of particular value to students, scholars, and policymakers working in the fields of energy, climate, and environmental politics, as well as individuals generally interested in the role that business exerts over policy processes.
List of contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Chapter 1 – Introduction
Chapter 2 – Understanding Business Preferences, Strategies and Influence
Chapter 3 – Exporting to the World: Policy contests in the oil and gas industries
Chapter 4 – The War on Coal: Policy contests in the coal and utility industries
Chapter 5 – The Rise of Renewable Power: Policy contests in the wind and solar industries
Chapter 6 – Re-thinking Business Behaviour in the US Energy Sector
Chapter 7 – What Should Policymakers Do?
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Christian Downie is an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow in the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) at The Australian National University, and author of The Politics of Climate Change Negotiations: Strategies and Variables in Prolonged International Negotiations (2014).
Summary
This book examines how and why business actors are shaping energy policy in the US. In doing so, this work provides the first detailed analysis of business actors in the US energy sector and presents new theoretical insights about the strategies business actors use to exert influence over the policy process.
