Climate change mainstreaming in government

Climate change mainstreaming in government – a case study of the Victorian Climate Change Act 2017

Climate change mainstreaming involves the integration of climate change considerations into government policies, processes, and decisions across all sectors, in recognition that climate change is a cross-cutting issue that is relevant for all manner of government functions and that climate policy objectives cannot be met by treating them as stand-alone goals.

The Victorian Climate Change Act 2017 is a unique example of legislation which provides explicitly for climate mainstreaming.

Co-designed and implemented in partnership with the Climate Change Division within the Victorian Government Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), this project explored the effect of legislative provision for climate mainstreaming on the decisions, policies, and programs of the Victorian Government, and developed a model for enabling effective climate mainstreaming in practice.

Researchers

• Associate Professor Anita Foerster
• Ms Alice Bleby

Background and aims

‘Mainstreaming’ climate change in government is an important complement to direct, substantive climate policy initiatives such as emissions trading, regulation of high emitting activities or adaptation planning. Embedding climate change considerations in government policies, processes, and operations across all sectors, and building climate awareness and literacy in government workforces, can help to accelerate the realisation of climate mitigation and adaptation goals and reduce risks of counter-productive decisions and actions.

Alongside provision for emissions reduction targets and strategies and adaptation planning, the Victorian Climate Change Act 2017 explicitly provides for climate mainstreaming. The Act sets out a general legal duty for the Victorian Government to take account of climate change, where relevant, in all government decisions, policies, programs and processes; and a more specific duty to have regard to climate change considerations in prescribed decisions. These mainstreaming duties reflect a legislative intention to deliver an integrated, whole-of-government approach to climate change. Such an approach recognises that a broad range of policy areas both contribute to climate change and are affected by climate change, and that effectively integrating climate change across government functions is critical to achieve climate policy objectives.

This project was developed in partnership with the Climate Change Division within DEECA, the lead agency implementing the Climate Change Act 2017, and was undertaken from June 2021-July 2022. The project aimed to inform and support the effective implementation of the legislative climate mainstreaming duties, thereby contributing to broader, deeper integration of climate change considerations in government decisions and operations in Victoria. It also sought to explore the value and impact of legislative provision for climate change mainstreaming more broadly, identifying lessons for other jurisdictions with similar laws and policy objectives.

Method

The study adopted a mixed-method, socio-legal research approach involving both desktop and empirical investigation.

Desktop research included legal analysis of the Climate Change Act 2017 in the context of the emerging body of framework climate laws around the world; a review of academic literature on mainstreaming in different policy contexts such as gender equality, environmental policy integration and disaster risk reduction; and analysis of relevant examples of guidance materials and other tools used to support decision-makers to integrate climate change in different jurisdictions.

Empirical research techniques (interviews, focus groups, an online survey, and an online interactive workshop) were used to gather data on current and emerging mainstreaming practice from a sample of Victorian Government public servants from diverse policy and operational areas. Participants were asked broadly framed, open-ended questions about mainstreaming practice, barriers, and enablers to climate mainstreaming in different policy and operational contexts, and opportunities to support further integration of climate change in decisions and operations.

The empirical data was examined using qualitative content and thematic analysis approaches, with themes and questions for analysis developed from the literature review, the legal analysis and the project objective to inform the climate mainstreaming work program of the Victorian Government.

Publications

• Anita Foerster and Alice Bleby, Climate Mainstreaming in Practice: using law to embed climate change in government policy and decision-making (Short project report, 2023)
• Alice Bleby and Anita Foerster, A conceptual model for climate change mainstreaming in government (2023) 12(3), Transnational Environmental Law
• Anita Foerster and Alice Bleby, ‘Climate change mainstreaming: what role for legislation?’ Published proceedings of the 19^th IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Colloquium (Edward Elgar, forthcoming 2023)
• Anita Foerster and Alice Bleby, When climate change mainstreaming is the law: a case study of the Climate Change Act 2017 (Vic) (2023) 45(4) Sydney Law Review

Presentations

Anita Foerster and Alice Bleby, ‘Climate Mainstreaming: what role for legislation?’ Presentation to the 19^th IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Colloquium, Brisbane, QLD (13 July 2022).

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by a Monash Business School Impact Acceleration Grant.

The Victorian Government provided extensive in-kind support: the Climate Change Division (DEECA) co-designed and oversaw the project; and a wide range of Victorian Government Public Servants participated in interviews, focus groups, workshops, and surveys.