Assessing the Level of Inter-Sectoral Policy Integration for Governance in the Water–Energy Nexus: A Comparative Study of Los Angeles and Beijing
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sustainability-12-07220-v2.pdf
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Author(s)
Sixt, Gregory N.
Strambo, Claudia
Zhang, Jingjing
Chow, Nicholas
Liu, Jie
Han, Guoyi
Date Issued
September 2020
Journal
Sustainability
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Citation
Sixt, Gregory N. et al. "Assessing the Level of Inter-Sectoral Policy Integration for Governance in the Water–Energy Nexus: A Comparative Study of Los Angeles and Beijing." Sustainability 12, 17 (September 2020): 7220 ©2020 Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
As concerns around water scarcity and energy security increase, so too has interest in the connections between these resources, through a concept called the water–energy nexus. Efforts to improve the integration of water and energy management and to understand their cross-sector relevance are growing. In particular, this paper develops a better empirical understanding on the extent to which governance settings hinder and/or enable policy coherence between the water and energy sectors through a comparative analysis of two case studies, namely, Los Angeles County, California, the United States, and the city of Beijing, China. This paper examines the extent to which the institutional context enables policy coordination within (vertically) and between (horizontally) the water and energy sectors in Beijing and Los Angeles. To do so, we propose a framework for analyzing policy integration for the water energy nexus based on environmental policy integration (EPI). The results highlight the multiple and flexible approaches of EPI in nexus governance, not least with regards to horizontal and vertical policy integration, but also in terms of explicit (i.e., intended) and implicit (i.e., unintended) coordination. The level of nexus-focused policy integration is highly dependent on the motivation at the local context and the criteria to evaluate policy success in each sector.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Abdul Latif Jameel World Water & Food Security Lab
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3390/su12177220
