Exploring collaborative governance in China : a case study of emission trading in Guangdong province

Abstract

Worldwide authorities require an effective governing regime to address growing climate change threats. The term ‘collaborative’ has been widely used in Western governance studies to refer to situations wherein state actors strive to fulfil public mandates through collaboration with nonstate entities. Although the importance of engagement with nonstate organisations has been highly recognised in climate governance, the explorations of the establishment of collaborative partnerships between public and private domains in the transition economy context remain limited.

This study aims to bridge the above knowledge gap by exploring collaborative governance for climate change adaptation in China. An integrated conceptual framework that covers three analytical dimensions of agency, net structure and relation was constructed to fully elaborate governance patterns at the local level, and the Guangdong Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) was selected as the study subject. Mixed methods, including the ethnographic approach, case study and social network analysis (SNA), were adopted. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through observation, interview, questionnaire survey and from available documents.

The key findings are as follows: Firstly, with the development of the pilot ETS, a growing number of nonstate organisations join the trial carbon market and set up governance networks. Moreover, the interplay between governmental and nongovernmental actors in different governance areas takes disparate forms, the initiating leadership of the governmental organisations is regarded as the main driver to stimulate original collaborative partnerships in Guangdong. In addition, despite the changes of social relation webs, nonstate entities play increasingly significant roles in the ETS governance. Secondly, the capacity building network at the Guangdong ETS further development stage is the most collaborative governance pattern. However, findings of the net structure analysis reveal that numerous indirect connections exist between the state and nonstate organisations. Bridging agents play facilitator roles to promote climate governance collaborations by linking isolated network components. Nevertheless, given their hybrid attributes, bridging organisations may also play obstructer roles to prevent collaborative governance for their own benefit. Thirdly, relations amongst different stakeholders continuously change, and collaboration and competition can coexist among the governance network constituents. Although the nongovernmental actors in the Guangdong case share governing authorities, their unequal status remains unaltered, and the governmental actors remain firmly in control of the ETS governance system.

The findings of this research offer profound insights on local climate governance patterns in the context of transition economies. This study contributes to deepening the understanding of collaborative governance in China; disclosing how state and nonstate organisations build up connections for local climate governance; and establishing an integrated conceptual framework to fully explore collaborative partnerships with agency, net structure and relation dimensions.