The Role of Subjective Factors in Local Authorities Action on Climate Change in South West England

From the PhD thesis abstract (Westcott, University of the West of England, 2016): This study examines the question of whether subjective attitudes to climate change play a significant part in the determination of local authorities' policy and actions on climate change mitigation; whether the personal views of council members and officers about climate change, their beliefs, fears and attitudes affect the outcomes in terms of policy and action, or whether organizational culture, norms and collectively policed limits to discourse have this effect; or whether the influence of central government policy is so overwhelming that action and policy is determined almost wholly by external and objective influences. Interviews with officers and members of local authorities in the South West of England identify that considerable reductions in council carbon emissions are possible when subjective factors align with organisational will.