Doctoral Dissertation Research: Environmental Governance in the Carbon Economy: Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions in California's Cap-and-Trade Market

本博士论文项目考察了用于创建旨在减少温室气体排放的新金融市场的地理原理、实践和关系。这项研究的重点是建立加州的碳市场，这是美国最大的碳市场，也是世界第二大碳市场。本研究以新古典经济学的现有研究、环境市场的政治生态学以及金融社会研究工作为基础。该项目旨在确定如何设计、实施和监管温室气体排放信用额度市场。该项目提出了三个研究问题，涉及监管机构、受监管行业和金融家之间的社会关系如何影响碳市场的设计和功能，这些关系产生的物理空间，以及在这些物理空间中市场参与者之间交流的意识形态类型。为了回答这些问题，学生将采用混合方法，包括采访关键的监管和市场人员，参与监管听证会的观察，以及档案工作，以揭示规则制定在六年监管过程中是如何变化的，这导致了加州碳市场的开放。加州碳市场的成败将对未来有关政府在减排中所扮演角色的辩论产生重大影响。加州的市场可能与加拿大、澳大利亚和欧盟的类似排放交易计划相关联。这个项目产生的数据以及工作产生的出版物将对决策者、非政府组织和温室气体排放工业有用。受影响的组织将从项目产生的数据中受益，这些数据涉及在设计环境产品市场及其市场启动后的监管中，哪些类型的关系、地点和论点是最重要或最有效的。本研究是一个实时观察新型金融市场创建和实施的原则和实践的机会，这些观察将有助于研究人员和政策制定者应对不断变化的金融和环境景观。作为博士论文研究进步奖，该项目将为有前途的学生提供支持，使他们能够从事与社会相关的研究。

This doctoral dissertation project examines the geographical principles, practices, and relationships used to create a new financial market that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The study's focus is on the creation of California's carbon market, the largest carbon market in the United States, and second largest in the world. The research is informed by existing research in neo-classical economics, the political ecology of environmental markets, and work in the social studies of finance. The project specifically seeks to determine how a market for credits in greenhouse gas emissions is designed, implemented, and regulated. The project asks three research questions addressing how social relationships between regulators, regulated industries, and financiers impact the design and function of a carbon market, the physical spaces where those relationships are enacted, and the types of ideologies that are communicated in those physical spaces between market actors. In order to answer these questions, the student will take a mixed-methods approach, including interviews with key regulatory and market personnel, participant observation of regulatory hearings, and archival work to uncover how rule making has changed over the six year regulatory process that has led to the opening of California's carbon market. The success or failure of California's carbon market will significantly contribute to future debates about the role of government in reducing emissions. The California market may be linked to similar emissions trading programs in Canada, Australia, and the European Union. The data generated by this project, as well as publications that result from the work, will be of use to policy makers, non-governmental organizations, and greenhouse gas emitting industries. The impacted organizations will benefit from data generated by the project regarding what types of relationships, places, and arguments are most important or effective in designing markets in environmental goods and their regulation once these markets commence. This research is an opportunity to observe the principles and practices of the creation and implementation in a new type of financial market in real-time, and these observations will help researchers and policy makers who are dealing with an ever-shifting financial and environmental landscape. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this project will provide support to enable a promising student to pursue an active career in socially relevant research.