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The language of climate change strategies

An argumentative discourse analysis about integrative climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies in the international sector

Julieta Barreiro

Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University Master Thesis in Human Geography; 30 ECTS credits Globalization, Environment and Social Change Spring Term 2021

Supervisor: Linn Axelsson

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Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the field of studies on climate change solutions through the study of the discourses about integrative climate change mitigation and adaptation (M&A) in the international sector. This thesis will be guided by the following research question: How is the integrative climate change mitigation and adaptation approach constructed in the international sector?

Taking a constructivist approach, this research uses Maarten Hajer’s argumentative discourse analysis and the analytical concepts of storylines and discourse coalitions to explore the framings of integrative climate change M&A and the different actors mobilising around those framings in an international context.

Based on the analysis of more than 50 official documents from nation-states and international financial institutions, four story lines are identified in this research, which in turn express two key discourses and discourse coalitions on integrative climate change M&A.

In turn, this thesis demonstrates that the two discourses that are being used to give meaning to integrative climate change M&A recreate the validity of the strategy through contrasting representations of the climate change problem.

Key words: integrative climate change mitigation and adaptation, climate change, climate solutions, discourse analysis, storylines, discourse coalitions

Barreiro, Julieta (2021). The Language of climate change strategies: An argumentative discourse analysis about integrative climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies in the international sector.

Human Geography, advanced level, master thesis for master exam in Human Geography, 30 ECTS credits.

Supervisor: Linn Axelsson.

Language: English

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List of Abbreviations

M&A – Mitigation and adaptation ADA – Argumentative discourse analysis SCFF – Special Climate Change Fund LDCF – Least Developed Countries Fund GFC – Green Climate Fund

GEF – Global Environmental Facility

UNFCCC – United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP – Conference Of The Parties

IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change NGO – Non-Governmental Organisations

NDC – Nationally Determined Contributions

INDC – Intended Nationally Determined Contributions GHG – Green Hose Gases

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...4

1.1 The Problem ...5

1.2 Objectives and Research Question ...6

1.3 Structure Of the Thesis ...7

2 Integrative Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Approach: an overview ...8

2.1 A Brief Background on M&A as Responses to Climate Change ...8

2.2 Literature Review ...10

3 Theoretical framework ...15

3.1 Constructivism & Discourse ...15

3.2 The Argumentative Discourse Analysis ...16

3.2.1 Story lines and Discourse Coalitions ...17

4 Operationalisation of the Theory, Key Actors and Material ...19

4.1 Operationalization of the Theory ...19

4.1.1 Theoretical Considerations ...20

4.2 Key Actors and Material ...21

4.2.1 Nation-States ...21

4.2.2 International Financial Institutions: The Green Climate Fund and The Global Environmental Facility ...22

5 Story Lines and Discourse Coalitions in Integrative Climate Change M&A ...24

5.1 The storylines and their account on integrative climate change M&A ...24

5.1.1 Cost-Efficiency Rationale ...24

5.1.2 Towards a Transformational Change ...26

5.1.3 Fair Contribution ...29

5.1.4 People’s Centered Approach ...31

5.2 Connecting Story lines with Discourses ...34

5.2.1 The Managerial Discourse ...35

5.2.2 The Justice Discourse ...37

6. Discussion ...40

7. Conclusions ...43

Bibliography ...44

Appendix: Source materials ...48

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1. Introduction

Nowadays there is no doubt that modern societies have to take action against the challenges presented by climate change, and that this action should be taken at all spatial scales and needs to address both short term and long-term issues (Kongsager, 2018). It is due to this certainty that today there are a range of international solutions aimed at solving the problem of climate change from two different perspectives: mitigation strategies, which focus on reducing the sources that generate climate change; and adaptation strategies, which focus on adapting human and/or natural systems to climate variabilities.

Although these two strategies have always been considered separately, less than a decade ago, a different approach to climate change strategies began to have an influence in the international arena. This “new” approach is based on addressing both mitigation and adaptation (M&A) issues within a single climate change initiative, thus leading to the integration of these two perspectives (Kongsager, 2018). Through an integrative approach, the integrative climate change mitigation and adaptation strategy seeks to maximise the benefits of a single project aimed at solving climate change issues by addressing multiple objectives. At the same time, it has the purpose of avoiding potential trade-offs that may arise from its implementation - thereby preventing mitigation actions from having negative consequences on adaptation issues and vice versa.

Although the integrative climate change M&A strategy is a relatively new approach to climate change and it is yet to be consolidated in the international sector - in this thesis the international sector refers to the dimension in which international entities operate and interact - I found it interesting from an academic point of view to investigate how different key actors in the international arena are making sense of it. The reason for this is that a study of this type would allow us to: 1) understand how the integrative climate change M&A is being framed in the international sector; 2) understand how key actors in the international arena are conceiving the climate change problem; 3) understand how these actors are promoting their world views through discourses and 4) understand how the integrative climate change M&A strategy fits in those world views.

Consequently, this thesis aims at examining how different actors construct and frame the integrative climate change M&A strategies in an international context.

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1.1 The Problem

In recent years, the integration of M&A strategies as a new way of approaching the implementation of solutions addressing climate variability has been strongly acknowledged at the international level. The links and synergies between climate change M&A have been recognised in the Paris Agreement (2015) (more prominent in art. 5), in the Fifth Assessment (2014) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and more recently in a large number of the second Nationally Determined Contribution1 (2020).

As a result of the recognitions of M&A strategies in the international climate policy arena there has been a wave of academic studies focusing on analysing this new approach, further illustrating the significant momentum of integrative climate change M&A strategies.

The literature has mainly focused on exploring this approach from a technical and scientific point of view. Most of the studies investigate what the possible synergies between the two approaches are, how those synergies could be maximised, what are their possible trade-offs and how to avoid them. Previous research mostly uses a national and local approach – by using specific countries as a case-study or by focusing on a single ‘on the ground’ project – or analyse the synergies and trade-offs of the integration of climate change M&A strategies with a specific emphasis on the land-use sector – primarily the forest and agriculture sector (i.e. Dang, Michaelowa, & Tuan, 2013; Dougma, Wambugu, Minang, & Noordwijk, 2014; Rosenzweig &

Tubiello, 2007; Harvey, et al., 2013; Locatelli, Evans, Wardell, Andrade, & Vignola, 2011;

Locatelli, Fedele, Fayolle, & Baglee, 2015; Matocha, Schroth, Hills, & Hole, 2012; Ravindranath, 2007).

However, there are hardly any studies that attempt to understand the position of integrative M&A strategies at the intersection of various discourses, and therefore we still do not fully know the different constructions of meaning that are guiding the governance of these type of strategies, nor what the rationale is that is guiding the actions of the actors involved. These types of studies would help us to answer questions such as:

What are the narratives that are guiding integrative M&A strategies? Which discourses are being reinterpreted in relation to adaptation strategies and mitigation strategies? Which discourses are establishing themselves as dominant? And which key actors are mobilising around

different discourses?

1Nationally Determined Contributions embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change” (UNFCCC, Undated)

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6 In light of the novelty of this approach and given the importance of understanding how we are formulating and approaching the climate change problem and giving meaning to policy approaches, I decided to conduct a discourse analysis study which is a method that provides tools to analyse the role of different actors and institutional structures in constructing meaning within a given policy field (Hajer, 1995)

In this study, I move away from the more mainstream literature which so far has been dominated by attempts to assess the potential impact of adopting integrated M&A strategies on climate change from a technical and scientific point of views, to instead focus on the role of discourses in framing the integrative climate change M&A approach at a global scale. This thesis builds on the analysis of the role of discourses in climate change governance in order to understand how discourses give meaning to integrative M&A strategies. By doing so, this thesis contributes to the understanding of how key actors in the international sector are shaping the construction of integrative climate change M&A strategy through the use of systems of meanings.

1.2 Objectives and Research Question

The overall aim of this thesis is to understand what the discourses are that are framing the role of the integrative climate change M&A approach. As a researcher relying on a discourse- analytical theory, my goal is to understand and analyse the existing discourses within the framework of the climate change M&A approach, by situating dominant discourses in time, space, and context. At the same time, I will also be focusing on analysing the production of the space generated through those discourses by understanding how practices are judged within these spaces, what is acceptable and what is not, etc.

Through Maarten Hajer’s method, the argumentative discourse analysis, I intend to identify the dominating storylines and discourse coalitions by examining documents provided by key actors within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change – the leading international convention guiding the action against the natural and social pressures of climate change.

This thesis then, intends to contribute to the field of studies on climate change solutions by mapping story lines and discourse coalitions of integrative climate change M&A.

The thesis will be guided by the following research question:

How is the integrative climate change mitigation and adaptation approach constructed in the international sector?

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1.3 Structure Of the Thesis

This thesis is structured in seven chapters.

Chapter two will provide the readers with a background on the integrative climate change M&A in order to situate them in the historical process that gave rise to the approach. At the same time, it will also make an account on previous academic research focused on analysing the integrative climate change M&A.

Chapter three will present the philosophy of science of this thesis. The two subsections in this chapter will explain my understanding of discourse analysis using a constructivist approach, and the analytical tool known as argumentative discourse analysis.

Chapter four will introduce the operationalisation of the theory, followed by a presentation of the key actors and the material selected for this thesis. In turn, this chapter will also address certain considerations that arise when using a constructivist approach in academic research.

In Chapter five the results of the analysis of the selected material are outlined. In this chapter four story lines and two discourse coalitions are introduced and explained. At the same time, in a following section the story lines are connected to two main discourses.

Chapter six and seven will discuss the findings, answer the research question and present a conclusion for this thesis.

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2 Integrative Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Approach: an overview

The purpose of this chapter is to provide the readers with a background on integrative climate change M&A in order to situate them in the historical process that gave rise to this approach (section 1). Subsequently, I provide the reader with a summary of the topics related to integrative climate change M&A that have attracted the interest of the academic world and resulted in a significant number of empirical studies (section 2).

2.1 A Brief Background on M&A as Responses to Climate Change

In the 1980s, the problem of climate change was framed for the first time in the scientific community as a systemic and global environmental pollution problem. As such, it was quickly associated with previous global issues that the world had already experienced and solved, such as acid rain or the hole in the ozone layer (Kongsager, 2018).

When associated with previous environmental problems, it was interpreted that the solution to climate change was to create a policy framework based on international cooperation.

Within this framework, international emissions targets to reduce the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere would be established through a global environmental regime i.e., mitigation strategies.

Following the interpretation that the climate change problem was a global environmental pollution issue, in 1988 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was founded to carry out climate scientific assessments on the status of the problem and, in 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was created to translate Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports into international climate policies (Kongsager, 2018).

Thus, mitigation, defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as any

“anthropogenic intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gasses”

(IPCC, 2014), was born as the first global response to the challenges imposed by climate change.

During this time, the idea of adapting to climate change was perceived as premature, as there was a belief in the effectiveness and sufficiency of the measures taken through international mitigation strategies and there was still uncertainty regarding the extent to which climate change would affect our way of life (Schipper, 2006). Accepting that adaptation was necessary was the same as admitting that mitigation efforts were insufficient. Therefore, this approach was viewed as a 'defeatist' option, and support for it was considered to be unconstructive.

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9 Additionally, politicians and scholars were already aware that the consequences of climate change were going to hit hardest in developing countries, which in turn were the countries with a lower adaptive capacity. Since developed countries were considered to be "responsible" for climate change, the discourse surrounding adaptation strategies was implicitly linked with discussions about liability and compensation, which developed countries wanted to avoid, given that the consensus was already based on the “polluter pays principle” — which is a fundamental part of the politics of climate finance (Kongsager, 2018; Schipper, 2006). In this thesis, climate finance is understood as public, private, and alternative financing that is used to fund mitigation and adaptation efforts to address climate change on a local, national, or global level (UNFCCC, 2021 b).

However, as time went on, it became increasingly clear that the impacts of climate change were inevitable. As we entered the second millennium, the focus on the need to increase adaptation efforts grew in both the academic and political sectors; so much so that adaptation - defined as an “adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities” (IPCC, 2014), was finally translated into policy through the Conference of the Parties2 held in 2001 (COP 7 in Marrakech), 2007 (COP 13 in Bali) and 2010 (COP 16 in Mexico). Funds were created specifically for adaptation initiatives and the first global agreement on adaptation was established - the Cancun Adaptation Framework - where finance, technology and capacity building support to assist developing countries to adapt to climate change were included (Kongsager, 2018).

Adaptation, in turn, reframed the conceptualisation of the problem of climate change from one of environmental pollution to one of human-influenced development: the questions that began to emerge were questions such as ‘who is vulnerable to climate change and why?’ or ‘what constitutes adaptive capacity?’ where the close link between adaptation and development became evident (Kongsager, 2018; Schipper, 2006). As a result, the climate change problem also changed from being understood from a mono-disciplinary approach with an emphasis on the natural sciences towards becoming a “transdisciplinary research strategy with stronger focus on co- production of scientific knowledge between natural and social scientists, policy makers, and society to support political decisions in the context of sustainable development” (Kongsager, 2018, p 5).

2The Conference of the Parties is the supreme decision-making body of the (UNFCCC) Convention. All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, at which they review the

implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts” (UNFCCC, 2021 a)

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10 Finally, a few years later, the complementary approach between mitigation and adaptation begun to gain support. Following the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2014), which calls for a form of development that “combine[s]

adaptation and mitigation to realise the goal of sustainable development” (IPCC, 2014), and the Paris Agreement (2015), which “encourages policy approaches, such as joint mitigation and adaptation approaches for the integral and sustainable management of forests” (Paris Agreement, 2016, art. 5), the potential integration of M&A strategies has received increased political and scientific attention.

From that point in time, several emerging projects and initiatives to development, agriculture and soil management (i.e. climate-smart development, climate-smart agriculture, 4 per 1000 initiative) were created to explicitly consider the adoption of mitigation and adaptation jointly and are currently being widely promoted and funded by international and regional institutions such as Food and Agriculture Organisation (e.g. Climate-smart agriculture sourcebook, 2013), The World Bank (2021) or the European Union (2017). Furthermore, in recent years, the climate finance sector has also begun to consider projects that encompass the combined objectives of M&A, for example the Global Environmental Facility was the first financial mechanism for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change addressing M&A jointly (Morita, et al., 2018), and the Green Climate Fund currently invests in projects and programmes that support co-benefits between M&A (GCF, 2019 a).

Today, there is a wide acceptance and recognition that enhancing synergetic relationships between both strategies, in spite of their differences, is essential to address climate change challenges; especially in sectors where mitigation and adaptation are intrinsically linked such as the land-use sector.

2.2 Literature Review

As mentioned in the previous sections, in the academic sphere the majority of the research aim to investigate how potential synergies between M&A may be increased and how possible trade-offs may be avoided. In line with this, some authors have suggested that the integration of M&A may limit unwanted negative consequences like “maladaptation” i.e. the adaptation measures that increase greenhouse gas emissions or “malmitigation” i.e. the negative consequences of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation 3 projects for

3Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is a mechanism developed by Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It creates a financial value for

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11 the adaptation of people and ecosystems increasing vulnerability (Barnett & Saffron, 2010;

Duguma, Wambugu, Minang, & Noordwijk, 2014; Harvey, et al., 2013; Kongsager & Corbera, 2015; Locatelli, Fedele, Fayolle, & Baglee, 2015; Suckall, Stringer, & Tompkins, 2015).

For example, Work et al. (2019) conducted a case study in Cambodia where they analysed the forms of maladaptation and trade-offs in climate change M&A initiatives brought about by a lack of assessment and management. Specifically, one of the mitigation projects analysed by the authors is a protected forest area management initiative, “Pray Lang protected forest area”, which is supported by the United States Agency for International Development.

Due to the failure of not taking into account objectives related to adaptation to climate change, this project resulted in “dramatic changes to local livelihoods, away from subsistence practices toward the extractive production of market crops, which privilege certain actors over others and degrade forest resources” (Work et al., 2019, p 553).

On the other hand, taking both M&A into account and finding synergies between them can lead to an increase in the effectiveness of the policy itself. It is generally assumed that synergies in climate policy are created when mitigation measures also reduce negative effects of climate variability (i.e., adaptation), or if adaptations measures contribute as well with mitigation efforts (Klein et al., 2007). For example, a study carried out by Duguma et al. (2014) explores the importance and attributes of the synergies between mitigation and adaptation, and discusses the necessary enabling conditions for achieving synergies between the two of them. This research uses the Ngitili restoration system in Tanzania as a case study and argues that the conceptualisation of synergy as the achievement of co-benefits is insufficient and that in order to maximise the benefits of synergetic outcomes, which is believed to bring substantial benefits when addressing climate change issues, a paradigm shift is needed to start using systemic thinking and landscape-scale. A further example is the work done by Chia et al., (2016) which explores the opportunities for promoting synergies between M&A in forest carbon initiatives. After analysing the programme designs and implementation principles of forest carbon projects, they came to the conclusion that it is necessary to reinforce the principles that enhance the integration of adaptation objectives in forest carbon development guidelines and methods by adding the use of a framework that incentivises and motivates different interest groups.

However, some concerns have emerged about pursuing these two strategies jointly, particularly because of the possible counterproductive outcomes that can be triggered by transaction costs, and the complexity and feasibility of projects when forcing the requirement of

the carbon stored in forests by offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development.” (UNREDD, 2021)

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12 integrative climate change M&A (Klein, et al., 2005; Locatelli, et al., 2014). In line with this, Locatelli et al., (2014, p 5) tells us that

instead, integration refers to assessing and minimising possible trade-offs and making mitigation and adaptation actions mutually supportive. When trade-offs cannot be avoided, decisions should be made based on the highest priority objective in a specific locality: for example, if adaptation is an immediate need, it should be prioritised.

The interest in these studies is mainly placed in the integration of M&A objectives in the land use management sector (agriculture and forestry primarily). This is due to the fact that, on one hand, ecosystems play an important role in providing a myriad of functions and services that sustain and benefit societies, ranging from market-based services, such as food, energy, timber and other commodities, to non-market services, such as carbon, biodiversity preservation, spiritual and cultural values (UNCCD, 2015; Ravindranath, 2007). Thus, the forestry and agriculture sector have the potential to increase food security, reduce threats to biodiversity, and help communities to reduce social vulnerabilities (Di Gregorio, et al., 2017; Ravindranath, 2007;

Verchot, et al., 2007).

On the other hand, the activities involved in the forestry and agriculture sectors are highly linked to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). For instance, deforestation accounts for 6%–

17% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions (Locatelli, et al., 2014), but at the same time forests have a great capacity to sequester them (Kongsager & Corbera, 2015; Locatelli, Evans, Wardell, Andrade, & Vignola, 2011; Matocha, Schroth, Hills, & Hole, 2012). For example, in the literature there are significant references to how forest mitigation and forest adaptation activities might intersect and how the objectives of these two strategies interact with existing global initiatives, notably the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation initiative (Kongsager

& Corbera, 2015; Locatelli, et al., 2014; Ravindranath, 2007). Several authors have noted that there are possibilities that trade-offs may occur in mitigation initiatives undertaken under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation that do not consider adaptation objectives. Like the study carried out in Vietnam by McElwee, et al., (2017) where Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation’ projects on the ground are analysed and at least one of them produce negative livelihood impacts that have increased household vulnerability to climate change.

Other studies have focused on the technical and financial advantages in pursuing joint M&A in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation projects i.e., the possibility for adaptation policies to access carbon funding (Matocha, Schroth, Hills, & Hole,

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13 2012) or the possibility of improving the cost effectiveness of the overall climate change funding (Ravindranath, 2007; Suckall, Stringer, & Tompkins, 2015).

Some researchers have instead focused on analysing institutional aspects that favoured or hindered the integration of M&A, like the research carried out by Locatelli, et al., (2020). This study was carried out in Peru, where the authors analysed climate governance and policy networks to explore the connections between M&A in national policy processes and examined opportunities and constraints to the effective integration between these two policy subdomains.

As a further example, Di Gregorio et al. (2017) carried out another study where they re- conceptualise Climate Policy Integration as a framework to explore the level of integration between M&A objectives and policies in the land use sector and they use Indonesia as their case study.

All of these topics are highly relevant to the field of climate change solutions, as they provide a technical and scientific basis on the risks and benefits of pursuing M&A integration in climate change policy planning and also propose ways to improve this integration. In turn, it finds the potential for integrative climate change M&A in sectors that primarily focused only in one of these strategies and ignored the other, thus increasing the importance of their role in the struggle against climate change.

Nevertheless, there is growing recognition that there is a need to also focus on analysing the framing, narratives and discourses on M&A strategies and the linkage between the two concepts. Such studies are concerned with understanding how we are formulating and interpreting the climate change problem and therefore how we are justifying and using the integrative climate change M&A approach. For instance, the Nordic Council of Ministers (2017) provides a report where they analyse policy documents where integrative climate change M&A strategies are taken into account and where the pursuit of synergies between the two strategies is specified. The objective of this report is to provide a conceptual framework for synergies within this approach, to see the level of acceptance and use of this strategy in the international sector and to provide advice for further integration of integrative climate change M&A initiatives in future negotiations.

This study shows that there is currently a great potential to scale up integrative climate change M&A strategy, and that this potential lies in generating climate policies with a bottom-up approach at the national level, mainly in developing countries. Additionally, Shipper (2006) conducted a study which analyses the changes in the perception of the policy-makers of the climate change problem since the 1990s. The goal of this paper is to understand how adaptation became a policy objective. To this end, Shipper provide us with an account on the conceptual history of adaptation strategies and on the discourses in the academic and political sector surrounding climate change M&A in its early stages. As a final example, Somorin (2014) carried

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14 out a study using discourse analysis in order to explore the governance processes of M&A. In this work, the author examines the actors and institutions involved, and through the methodology of discourse institutionalism he maps the perceptions and discourses of different stakeholders on a Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation project carried out in Congo- basin. In the latter study presented as an example (Somorin, 2014), the author finds several challenges for both scientists and policy practitioners worth mentioning, among which is the existence of competing discourses regarding institutional arrangements and policymaking on strategies that integrate mitigation and adaptation. Within these discourses the author distinguishes between actors who argue in favour of integrating adaptation and mitigation into one policy framework, and those who argue for the need to treat the two strategies separately.

Subsequently, he analyses the coalitions of the discourses and concludes that the discourse of keeping the two strategies separate is stronger. This, according to the author, is due to the contested and uncertain nature of adaptation policies.

Throughout this chapter we have been able to see the interest of different authors in the analysis of climate change M&A integration. In the first part I have shown how certain actors focus on researching climate change M&A integration from a technical and scientific point of view. Their goal is mainly to understand the challenges and advantages of pursuing M&A integration in climate change policy planning, as well as to provide recommendations on how to strengthen this integration. In the second part, we have seen how certain studies have focused instead on analysing the integration of climate change M&A from a more conceptual and discursive perspective. The contribution of these authors is based on providing us with the current scope and potential of the use of the strategy by key international actors; on a historical analysis of the perceptions of adaptation and mitigation; and understanding the discourses of actors that promote or reject the integration of these two strategies.

Within this myriad of researches, I will in this thesis contribute knowledge about the different discourses that key actors in the international sector are using to construct an integrated climate change M&A strategy. A further contribution is to understand how these key international actors conceive the climate change problem and use story lines and discourses on integrative climate change M&A in order to promote their own world views.

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3 Theoretical framework

In this chapter, I present the philosophy of science of this thesis. The first section will focus on explaining my understanding of discourse analysis using a constructivist approach.

Following this, the second section will go on explaining the analytical approach of this research, which will be based on the analytical tool provided by Marteen Hajer, Argumentative Discourse Analysis (1995). In this section, I will also discuss the analytical concepts drawn from argumentative discourse analysis that I will use to address my research question, namely story lines and discourse coalitions.

3.1 Constructivism & Discourse

This thesis relies on a constructivist approach that I use to understand how narratives, concepts and discourses fundamentally shape how the climate change M&A approach is being perceived.

According to this philosophy of science, which focuses on the act of becoming, one of the ways to shape the reality is through the rules of the discourse itself and from those who have the capacity and authority to profess it. In turn, this approach will not ask what the world is like, but rather how we know the world, and from where that knowledge came from (Cresswell, 2013).

The broadly constructivist epistemology in which I based my thesis suggests that knowledge – and thus the perception of reality — can be produced through discourse and is therefore contingent in nature (Foucault, 1998). Hence, discourses are a fundamental part of the constructivist approach within the social sciences. It interprets that the ways of making sense of the self and the world are constructed by individuals through the day-to-day social interaction in a specific historical and cultural context which can be produced and reproduced by language.

Bearing this fact in mind, and considering that

discourse analysis [has] the capacity to reveal the role of language in politics… [the]

capacity to answer “how” questions and to illuminate mechanisms (Hajer & Versteeg, 2005, p 176-177),

I will make use of discourse analysis to find the answer to my research questions.

This analytical tool is in Hajer’s (1995, p 41) words: “the examination of argumentative structure in documents and other written or spoken statements as well as the practices through which these utterances are made”. The general assumption in this analytical approach, is that

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16 through language we give meaning to our reality. Discourses will picture different descriptions of reality and empower certain production of spaces where we determine what is “normal” “right”

and “wrong”.

Discourse analysis has been a widely used tool for understanding the contested nature of environmental politics, since this methodology has been able to demonstrate the role of language as a constitutive factor in what societies perceive nature to be (Hajer, 1995).

This means that society’s view of nature, is socially constructed through language.

Because of this assumption, it becomes imperative to know how to interpret the meaning of an environmental phenomenon and how society makes sense of it, rather than analysing the phenomenon itself (Hajer & Versteeg, 2005).

Discourses represent the dominant understandings and knowledge regimes present in governance debates on climate change M&A. They “come into politics channelled through a particular set of operational routines and mutually accepted rules and norms that give coherence to social life” (Hajer & Versteeg, 2005, p 177).

For example, today there are concepts such as sustainable development that did not exist before, and that today are commonplace due to to the establishment of a new way of understanding nature and natural resources (Sachs, 1999).

As a researcher relying on this theory, I will be committed to the study and analysis of the existing discourses within the governance of climate change M&A by situating dominant discourses in time, space and context. At the same time, I will also focus on analysing the production of the space generated through that discourse: how practices are judged within these spaces, what is acceptable and what is not, and so on.

3.2 The Argumentative Discourse Analysis

I have chosen to use as this thesis` analytical approach the argumentative discourse analysis of Marteen Hajer (1995). This choice is based on the fact that Hajer provides tools directly intended to analyse the role of different actors and institutional structures in constructing meaning within a given policy field - the book in which Hajer presents this argumentative discourse analysis is based on analysing the reality created through the "environmental problem"

(Hajer 1995).

The definition of discourse that I used is defined by Maarten Hajer as: ‘‘a specific ensemble of ideas, concepts, and categorisations that are produced, reproduced, and transformed in a particular set of practices and through which meaning is given to physical and social realities’’

(Hajer 1995, p 44).

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17 Argumentative discourse analysis focus on the interplay between what is being said, by whom, in which context and how the recipient responds to it. In Hajer’s words (1995, p 44) the argumentative discourse analysis process starts by

making sense of the regularities and variations in what is being said (or written) and try to understand the social backgrounds and the social effects of specific modes of talking (..) by analysing in which context a statement is made or to whom statements are directed. Discourse is then seen as internally related to the social practices in which it is produced (…) a discourse is then seen as an ensemble of ideas, concepts, and categorisations.

Hajer's argument is that the discourses that dominate the definition of environmental problems are more comprehensively understood when these processes are combined in the analysis.

Argumentative discourse analysis has four analytical concepts that in turn represent the four stages on which this analytical tool will be based: story lines, discourse coalitions, discourse structuration and discourse institutionalisation. In this thesis I am only focusing on using the analytical concepts of story lines and discourse coalitions, which I will explain in more detail in the following subsection. This is mainly for two reasons: first, even though the integrative climate change M&A is fairly new, it is possible to identify the story lines and discourses that are being used to frame the integrative M&A approach. At the same time, it is also possible to identify the actors that dominate the different discourses manifested in those story lines. Second, since story lines and discourse coalitions function as tools to identify the different ways in which a policy problem is framed and how different actors mobilise around those different framings, they are the most suitable analytical concepts to answer my research questions.

3.2.1 Story lines and Discourse Coalitions

Hajer recognises that environmental problems are usually “wicked problems”, which is to say dynamic problems with no single solution) full of complexity and encompassing concepts and ideas from a wide range of disciplines. Due to the complexity of these discourses, the general population is not able to understand these issues in depth. Therefore, Hajer assumes that most forms of communication are based on interpretative readings, judging a statement in terms of whether it “sounds right” (Hajer & Versteeg, 2005, p 69). This is where story lines come into play.

In the words of Hajer (1995, p 56), a story line:

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…is a generative sort of narrative that allows actors to draw upon various discursive categories to give meaning to specific physical or social phenomena. The key function of story lines is that they suggest unity in the bewildering variety of separate discursive component parts of a problem like acid rain. The underlying assumption is that people do not draw on comprehensive discursive systems for their cognition rather these are evoked through story lines.

Discourse coalitions is defined by Hajer (2005, p 302) as “a group of actors that, in the context of an identifiable set of practices, shares the usage of a particular set of storylines over a particular period of time”. I understand that certain key actors have the intention and power to shape story lines according to their personal agendas, so that story lines and the underlying discourses that they express are not only produced and reproduced unconsciously, but rather certain actors intend to shape the reality through its use.

I understand story lines to be the narratives through which an underlying system of meanings is being manifested on a day-to-day basis. Story lines, help us to understand the complexity of environmental discourses in a simpler and more approachable way. Through story lines, it is therefore possible to identify the core assumptions of the underlying system of meaning, the discourse.

On the other hand, story lines constitute the discursive basis from which different actors struggle for discursive hegemony – linking discourses to power and dominance. Discourse coalitions then, comes in this “second stage”, where the discourses (expressed in the story lines) are beginning to be reproduced in the practice of various actors, who at the same time continue to (re)produce and transform such discourses.

Even though political debate draws on many different discourses, one single discourse can be dominant. In this way, the politics of discourse is understood as a continuous process of giving meaning to the complex socio-physical world through story lines, which are later on consolidated through the means of accepted social practices and institutions.

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4 Operationalisation of the Theory, Key Actors and Material

The first section of this chapter will explain the method used to carry out the analysis of this thesis: the operationalisation of the two key analytical concepts outlined in Chapter 3, story lines and discourse coalitions, and the analytical framework that provides the guidelines for the subsequent analysis, found in Chapter 5. Following this, I will address certain considerations that arise when approaching a research with a constructivist approach.

In the second section I will explain my choice of key actors and consequently the material selected to be analysed.

4.1 Operationalization of the Theory

In order to explore how integrative climate change M&A is perceived in the international sector and by whom, as mentioned in Chapter three, I will use Hajer’s (1995) argumentative discourse analysis. The argumentative discourse analysis uses in turn, two tools, namely story lines and discourse coalitions, in order to understand how societies, construct reality through discourses.

The argumentative discourse analysis refers to the focus on

making sense of the regularities and variations in what is being said (or written) and try to understand the social backgrounds and the social effects of specific modes of talking (..) by analysing in which context a statement is made or to whom statements are directed. Discourse is then seen as internally related to the social practices in which it is produced (…) a discourse is then seen as an ensemble of ideas, concepts, and categorisations (Hajer 1995, p 44).

Story lines and discourse coalitions are central to the argumentative discourse analysis when it comes to defining the different framings of a policy problem and to shed light on how different actors make sense of a given issue. With this fact in mind, and due to the scope of this thesis and my research questions, I will focus my analysis on mapping story lines in order to identify the main discourses on integrative climate change M&A strategies, and I will also focus my attention on identifying the actors that promote these story lines, in order to understand the different discourse coalitions that make up these discourses.

According to the definition of story line given by Hajer (see subsection 3.2.1 above), story lines are narratives created through everyday language that reflect in a simpler way the

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20 discursive complexity of discourses. In this way, they unify and give meaning to the different components that make up the discourse.

In turn, according to Hajer's definition of discourse coalitions (see subsection 3.2.1 above), I understand discourse coalitions to reflect the actors that mobilise around certain story lines.

Nevertheless, while Hajer's conceptions of storylines and discourse coalitions are straightforward, he is less consistent about how to operationalise and analyse them. As a result, I was inspired by the academic works of Carol Bacchi (2009; 2012) who in her work uses key questions as tools to guide the analysis of her research material.

Carol Bacchi (2009; 2012) developed the “What’s the problem represented to be?”

which is a tool designed to make critical interrogation of public policies. Policies and policy proposals, according to her logic, contain implicit representations of what is thought to be the problem. Therefore, to examine public policies in depth, Carol Bacchi proposes a set of six questions to guide the researcher in identifying the problematisation behind public policies.

I extrapolated this tool to my own research problem in order to facilitate the interrogation of the story lines and discourse coalitions. Accordingly, based on my research problem, research question and research objectives, I proceed on developing questions to guide the analysis of the selected material.

The questions that will guide the analysis of the selected material are the following:

In order to interrogate Story lines

Question 1: What are the keywords that are repeated in the story lines?

Question 2: What are the underlying core assumptions behind these keywords?

In order to interrogate Discourse Coalitions

Question 1: Who are the actors promoting the same story lines?

4.1.1 Theoretical Considerations

As outlined in Chapter three, this thesis is based on a constructivist approach. Through this theoretical branch it is understood that knowledge is part of a productive process. Therefore, it is understood that the researcher possesses agency and plays the role of nurturing this productive process while conducting his/her research (see subsection 3.1). In turn, the researcher not only becomes part of the production of knowledge, but also already possesses prior knowledge that influences the way of understanding reality and the research topic.

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21 Even though I am not active in the climate debate, as a result of these premises, I will have to consider my role as a researcher while conducting the analysis of the selected material, and I will attempt to concentrate on strictly adhering to the argumentative discourse analysis process and my own analytical model.

4.2 Key Actors and Material

The empirical material selected for this thesis was carefully chosen with my research question and research objectives in mind. Before selecting the material, I had to give due consideration to the actors I would select as the focus of my research. Since the central point of my research analysis is the mapping of different narratives of key actors in the international sector, I had to first prioritise the actors who play a major role in climate governance.

Climate governance in this context refers to the multilateral negotiations and the institutional framework associated with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. As stated by Klein, et al. (2007, p 766), “on the global scale, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto protocol are at present the principal institutional frameworks by which climate policy is developed”. Within this framework we find the Paris Agreement, a multilateral treaty adopted in 2015 at the Conference of the Parties 21.

The Paris Agreement was entrusted with the implementation of the international objectives related to climate change – namely mitigation and adaptation strategies and climate finance.

Since the Paris Agreement and the Convention of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992), are central to the normative and institutional framework governing climate governance, I decided that the Parties that signed the Paris Agreement and are under the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are key actors in the international arena. Accordingly, I included documents produced by these Parties, namely their official contributions and strategies to combat climate change.

At the same time, I selected as key actors the international financial institutions the Green Climate Fund and the Global Environmental Facility. I believe them to be key actors as they were entrusted with the role of supporting the parties involved in the Agreement to meet their objectives and obligations in the fight against climate change. Therefore, they are mandated to mobilise international monetary funds to promote climate change strategies at the global level.

4.2.1 Nation-States

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22 The document where countries set out their measures against climate change are defined as their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions. After the parties' ratification of the Paris Agreement, the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions cease to be Intended and became instead a Nationally Determined Contribution (Nordic Council of Ministers, 2017). The lay out of this document was developed in 2013, at the Conference of the Parties 19. Initially, these documents focused on outlining the efforts made by countries with respect to mitigation strategies; however, it was decided at the Conference of the Parties 20 (2014) to broaden the scope of this document to include the intended efforts of countries with respect to adaptation strategies.

According to the study conducted by the Nordic Council of Ministers (2017), a total of 142 countries included climate change actions focused on mitigation and adaptation components in their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions.

For this thesis, I analysed 150 Intended Nationally Determined Contributions and National Determined Contributions’ documents – I was able to do the analysis on the documents written either in English or Spanish. This will not put a limitation on the research since most countries have their respective official documents translated into English (only 19 countries were left out of the analysis).

In these documents, each country outlines its contributions with respect to mitigation targets and adaptation priorities to climate change. From these 150 (Intended) Nationally Determined Contributions, 41 explicitly referred to the use of integrative climate change M&A. I have used these 41 documents to analyse the perspectives of these key actors with respect to climate change M&A integration. I have further categorised each country according to their regional characteristics, among them we can find the Arab Group, African Group, Latin American Group, Caribbean Group, Asia Group, Oceania Group and Eurasia Group (see complete list of countries in the Appendix: Source Materials).

4.2.2 International Financial Institutions: The Green Climate Fund and The Global Environmental Facility

Historically, climate finance has been based on either mitigation or adaptation separately (see section 2.1). Few financing instruments have specifically and consistently sought to facilitate mitigation and adaptation synergies and foster strategies that seek an integrated approach between the two.

However, there are two international financial institutions where the integration of M&A is considered important at the strategic level. First, in 2011, the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change established the Green Climate Fund to assist developed countries in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and in adapting to the

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23 effects of climate variability. This fund has the requirement to balance the allocation of funds between mitigation and adaptation initiatives, and to establish an integrated approach to mitigation and adaptation to enable the creation of "cross-cutting" projects (Locatelli, Fedele, Fayolle, & Baglee, 2015). Therefore, the Green Climate Fund helps developing countries meet their targets for reducing carbon emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change by financing targeted sectors that have a significant effect on mitigation and adaptation, as well as sectors that can deliver cross-cutting objectives and thus can have an impact on many outcome areas, targeting both mitigation and adaptation in a holistic and interconnected manner (Nordic council of Ministers, 2017).

Second, the Global Environmental Facility is an international financial institution with a longer history. Created in 1992 under the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Global Environmental Facility was established to support the fight against the most pressure environmental problems. This fund also has the responsibility of managing the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) and the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF). The climate change projects of the Global Environmental Facility emphasise systemic approaches that take into account the needs and interconnections of multiple environmental aspects at multiple scales. These include assistance to the developing countries with their respective (Intended) National Determined Contributions. Indeed, in the Conference of the Parties 21, the Global Environmental Facility took the responsibility of helping developing countries to further develop programmes, policies and strategies to advance the goals defined in their planned (Intended) Nationally Determined Contributions (Nordic Council of Ministers, 2017). The Global Environmental Facility aims to catalyse synergies between trust funds, multilateral agreements and targeted sectors. In turn, it priorities the achievement of environmental sustainability through key development sectors while recognising the importance of addressing both climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation in an integrated way (Nordic Council of Ministers, 2017).

In this thesis I have analysed 15 official documents of these two international financial institutions, in addition to the analysis of the information provided through their official websites.

These documents give information about the latest strategies of these institutions, what the most pressing climate change issues are, how development projects are managed, and recipients are chosen, among others.

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5 Story Lines and Discourse Coalitions in Integrative Climate Change M&A

This chapter will outline the findings of the selected material described in the previous section. In the first section I will present the main key words that are repeated in each story line and the core assumptions that underpin them. I will also present the key actors that support the respective story lines. In the second section I will take the analysis to a second level by decoding the main discourses that are reflected in the story lines.

Thus, the analysis in this chapter will present the story lines, discourse coalitions and discourses found in the empirical material selected for the development of this thesis.

5.1 The storylines and their account on integrative climate change M&A

In this section, I identify four story lines: the Cost-efficiency Rationale story line, which mainly appears in documents by the international financial institutions, the Global Environmental Facility and the Green Climate Fund; the Towards a Transformational Change, also a story line present in documents from the international financial institutions; the Fair Contribution story line, mainly used by developing countries; and the People’s Centered Approach, mainly used by Latin American countries.

5.1.1 Cost-Efficiency Rationale

Key words: Cost-efficiency, efficient finance allocation, effective, interrelationships with socio-economic areas, science validity.

This story line is mainly used by the international financial institutions selected as key actors, the Green Climate Fund and the Global Environmental Facility.

Through this story line, the key actors attempt to express the idea that the conception and development of climate change policies from the point of view of integrating M&A policies represents a beneficial balance between costs and outcomes. Guided by economic rationale, it is understood that the justification for the use of this type of strategy lies in its validity as a climate change solution, and in the assumption that the balance between costs and outcomes of integrating climate change M&A policies is positive. For example, in a report by the Global Environmental Facility (2019 b, p 19), the institution claims that "this integrated approach to forest management has already been put forward by many funding and implementing agencies, and various collaborative efforts demonstrate the validity and cost-efficiency of these integrated interventions”.

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