Are they really so different? Climate change rule development in the USA and UK

• Published date: 01 February 2015
• Author: Sara Rinfret,Jeffrey Cook
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1512
• Date: 01 February 2015

■Academic Paper

Are they really so different? Climate

change rule development in the USA

and UK

Jeffrey Cook

1

*and Sara Rinfret

2

1

Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

2

Hartwick College, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Oneonta, New York, USA

Climate changeis an increasingly complex and globalenvironmental issue. As a result, scholars have begun to compare

the effortsof specific countries such as the UK and the USAin dealing with climate change. However, missingwithin this

comparative literature is a discussion of the important role that administrative agencies play in implementing climate

change policy throughrulemaking. More specifically, it is unclear how administrative processes may impact or explain

variations in the policy implemented within a given country. In fact, it has been over 25 years since Vogel’s work

compared the regulatory processes of the USA and UK. As a result, this paper’s interviews with agencyrule writers in

both countries provide an updated comparison of their rulemaking processes,which is essential to understanding why

countries may vary in theclimate change policy they implement.Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Environmental issues have become increasingly

complex and global in nature, which is especially

evident in the climate change arena. And how devel-

oped countriessuch as the USA and the UK approach

climate change has both domestic and international

implications. As a result, scholars have analyzed the

institutionaland political capacities of these countries

and others to determine why certain countries such

as the UK have marched ahead whereas others,

namely the USA, have not (Rosenbaum, 2011;

Steinberg & Van Deveer, 2012, 2013).

However, lost in these comparisons of climate

change policy is an understanding about the role of

administrative agencies in the implementation of

public policy. More specifically, the UK relies upon

the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural

Affairs (Defra)and the newly developed Department

of Energy and ClimateChange (DECC) to implement

their climate change agenda. In comparison, the

limited efforts the USA has undertaken in this arena

have been implemented by the US Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA). Ultimately, these agencies

are important pieces of the climate change policy

puzzle within their respective countries, yet we do

not have a great understanding of how these contem-

porary agencies are producing rules.

We assert that this comparison of agency rulemaking

processes is essential because it provides a more

comprehensive pi cture regarding why thes e two

countries may mana ge climate change differently.

This contempora ry review is important b ecause it

has been over 25 years since Vogel (1986) compared

the USA and UK and their environmental regula-

tory processes. More specifically, Vogel (1986) con-

cluded in his comparison of the US EPA and the

then UK Departme nt of Environment, the precur sor

to Defra and DECC, that the UK process was more

collaborative, less contentious, and freer of political

influence. As a result, he argued that the UK and US

processes were fundamentally different, which

helped to explain why policy outcomes and compli-

ance unfolded diff erently within each c ountry.

*Correspondence to: Jeffrey Cook, Colorado State University,Fort

Collins, Colorado, USA.

E-mail: jeffcook@colostate.edu

Journal of Public Affairs

Volume 15 Number 1 pp 79–90 (2015)

Published online 14 April 2014 in Wiley Online Library

(www.wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/pa.1512

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.