Ecological Modernisation and Climate Change in Australia

Abstract

Ecological modernisation (EM), in both theory and practice, has much to commend it. Its main strengths lie in its promotion of win-win solutions to ecological risk and its utilisation of the very institutions of modernisation to foster industrial and ecological adaptation. EM is usefully conceptualised into its weak and strong forms, with distinctions also drawn between ecological modernisation and ecological restructuring, but even weak ecological modernisation may trigger ecological restructuring. Governments, particularly those governing energy-intensive economies, are increasingly caught up in this dynamic, to which they respond in different ways. A critical EM framework is used as a lens through which to consider Australia's climate policy, focusing on the sectoral politics that shape its modernisation-restructuring dynamic.