ABSTRACT

Discursive choices made by policy entrepreneurs are an important factor in the development of climate change acts (CCAs). This article examines the extent to which such choices reflect the strategic need for CCA entrepreneurs to compromise pragmatically and modulate their policy preferences in order to secure the agreement needed for CCA adoption. Drawing upon theoretical insights from discursive institutionalism (DI) and policy entrepreneurship, this article analyses discursive choices during negotiations surrounding the New Zealand Zero Carbon Act (ZCA). The analysis shows that endogenous political-ideological constraints compelled entrepreneurial actors to modify first-choice preferences for emissions reduction legislation by reframing their coordinative discursive interventions to accommodate potentially oppositional groups. Further research is required into the conditions under which such strategies become discursively operational, to provide guidance to climate policy entrepreneurs as CCAs continue to diffuse globally.

Key policy insights

• Strategic compromise by climate advocates is crucial to the passage of enduring legislation.

• Climate policy entrepreneurs’ decisions about how and when to compromise to ensure legislation may have significant implications for climate policy efficacy and political durability.

• Compromises may only defer rather than diffuse underlying political tensions but can enable CCA adoption so as to reshape political contexts in the longer-term.

• Future research can inform climate policy advocacy strategies that aim to balance ambition and durability.

摘要

政策企业家做出的话语选择是制定气候变化法案 (CCA) 的一个重要因素。本文考察了此类选择在多大程度上反映了 CCA 企业家务实地妥协并调整其政策偏好以确保获得采用 CCA 所需的协议的战略需求。本文借鉴了话语制度主义 (DI) 和政策创业的理论见解，分析了围绕新西兰零碳法案 (ZCA) 谈判期间的话语选择。分析表明，内生性的政治意识形态限制迫使企业家通过重新调整其协调性话语干预以适应潜在的反对群体，从而改变对减排立法的首选偏好。

关键政策见解

• 气候倡导者的战略妥协对于通过持久立法至关重要。

• 气候政策企业家关于如何以及何时妥协以确保立法的决定可能对气候政策的有效性和政治持久性产生重大影响。

• 妥协可能只会推迟而不是分散潜在的政治紧张局势，但可以使 CCA 的采用成为可能，从而在长期内重塑政治环境。

• 未来的研究可以为旨在平衡雄心和持久性的气候政策倡导战略提供信息。