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© The Author(s) 2020
S. Sareen (ed.), Enabling Sustainable Energy Transitions,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26891-6_6
CHAPTER 6
Do Climate Targets Matter?
The Accountability of Target-setting
in Urban Climate and Energy Policy
Håvard Haarstad
Abstract Climate-related targets abound, but are they important drivers
of policy action? Given the apparent gap between ambitious targets and
concrete actions to reach them, climate-related targets can easily be seen
as representative of a crisis of accountability. At the same time, this chapter
argues, there are practices of legitimation at work that can help overcome
this crisis, and translate abstract and arbitrary targets into concrete policy
implementation. Norway’s Zero Growth Objective in transport policy
represents a case of this. From its first formulation as a target around 2006
and until 2019, it has materialised as a “hard” target shaping funding
streams and concrete policy interventions, and most likely, emission levels.
Under certain conditions, abstract targets play important roles in legitimating transition policy.
Keywords Climate targets • Metrics • Implementation • Transport •
Accountability
H. Haarstad (*)
Department of Geography, Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation,
University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
e-mail: Havard.Haarstad@uib.no
© The Author(s) 2020
S. Sareen (ed.), Enabling Sustainable Energy Transitions,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26891-6_6
CHAPTER 6
Do Climate Targets Matter?
The Accountability of Target-setting
in Urban Climate and Energy Policy
Håvard Haarstad
Abstract Climate-related targets abound, but are they important drivers
of policy action? Given the apparent gap between ambitious targets and
concrete actions to reach them, climate-related targets can easily be seen
as representative of a crisis of accountability. At the same time, this chapter
argues, there are practices of legitimation at work that can help overcome
this crisis, and translate abstract and arbitrary targets into concrete policy
implementation. Norway’s Zero Growth Objective in transport policy
represents a case of this. From its first formulation as a target around 2006
and until 2019, it has materialised as a “hard” target shaping funding
streams and concrete policy interventions, and most likely, emission levels.
Under certain conditions, abstract targets play important roles in legitimating transition policy.
Keywords Climate targets • Metrics • Implementation • Transport •
Accountability
H. Haarstad (*)
Department of Geography, Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation,
University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
e-mail: Havard.Haarstad@uib.no