The limits of co-production: linking regulatory capacity to co-production of authoritative knowledge for environmental policy.

This article examines the interplay between co-production of scientific knowledge and regulatory capacity in environmental policy, using the case study of Colorado's efforts to develop the Habitat Quantification Tool (HQT) for sage-grouse habitat offsetting. It argues that structural governance challenges, particularly weak regulatory capacity and declining public authority, undermine the authority and uptake of co-produced knowledge, limiting its effectiveness in contentious environmental contexts. The study finds that despite extensive collaborative efforts among state agencies, civil society, and industry stakeholders, the lack of enforceable regulatory frameworks allowed oil and gas industry actors to disengage, leading to the initiative's failure. This analysis critiques the mainstream co-production model for neglecting the essential role of regulatory capacity and suggests that effective environmental governance requires integrating robust regulatory authority with participatory knowledge production to generate authoritative, actionable scientific knowledge.