scholarly journals Legitimacy in an Era of Fragmentation: The Case of Global Climate Governance

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 56-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia I. Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen ◽  
Jeffrey McGee
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
Institutional Fragmentation

Studies grounded in regime theory have examined the effectiveness of “minilateral” climate change forums that have emerged outside of the UN climate process. However, there are no detailed studies of the legitimacy of these forums or of the impacts of their legitimacy on effectiveness and governance potential. Adopting the lens of legitimacy, we analyze the reasons for the formation of minilateral climate change forums and their recent role in global climate governance. We use Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen and Vihma's analytical framework for international institutions to examine three minilateral climate forums: the Asia-Pacific Partnership, the Major Economies Meetings, and the G8 climate process. These forums have significant deficits in their source-based, process-based, and outcome-based legitimacy, particularly when compared to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. If assessed purely on grounds of effectiveness, the minilateral forums might be easily dismissed as peripheral to the UN climate process. However, they play important roles by providing sites for powerful countries to shape the assumptions and expectations of global climate governance. Thus, the observed institutional fragmentation allows key states to use minilateral forums to shape the architecture of global climate governance.

Accountability and Representation: Nonstate Actors in UN Climate Diplomacy

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan W. Kuyper ◽  
Karin Bäckstrand
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
Nonstate Actors ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
Collective Representation

Observer organizations in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are clustered into nine constituency groups. Each constituency has a “focal point” (representative) to mediate between the Secretariat and the 1800 NGOs admitted during each Conference of the Parties meeting by collating information, coordinating interactions, offering logistical support, and providing collective representation. Drawing upon a series of interviews with constituency groups and other qualitative data, we explore how the focal point of each constituency group remains accountable to the observer organizations he or she represents. We make two major contributions. First, we map the accountability mechanisms that exist between the observer organizations and focal points in each constituency. Second, we argue that variation in the usage of accountability mechanisms across constituencies corresponds to the existence of parallel bodies operating outside the UNFCCC. This article speaks to broader issues of accountability and representation in global climate governance.

scholarly journals The Evolution of the UNFCCC

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 343-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Kuyper ◽  
Heike Schroeder ◽  
Björn-Ola Linnér
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Kyoto Protocol ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Industrial Country ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Voluntary Contributions ◽  
Top Down ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
Climate Action

This article takes stock of the evolution of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through the prism of three recent shifts: the move away from targeting industrial country emissions in a legally binding manner under the Kyoto Protocol to mandating voluntary contributions from all countries under the Paris Agreement; the shift from the top-down Kyoto architecture to the hybrid Paris outcome; and the broadening out from a mitigation focus under Kyoto to a triple goal comprising mitigation, adaptation, and finance under Paris. This review discusses the implications of these processes for the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of the UNFCCC's institutional and operational settings for meeting the convention's objectives. It ends by sketching three potential scenarios facing the UNFCCC as it seeks to coordinate the Paris Agreement and its relationship to the wider landscape of global climate action.

scholarly journals COP and the Cloth: Quantitatively and Normatively Assessing Religious NGO Participation at the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Sci ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
David Krantz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Nongovernmental Organizations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
Global North ◽  
Quantitative Examination ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Climate Crisis

How much is religion quantitatively involved in global climate politics? After assessing the role of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from a normative perspective, this descriptive, transdisciplinary and unconventional study offers the first comprehensive quantitative examination of religious nongovernmental organizations that formally participate in its annual meetings, the largest attempts to solve the climate crisis through global governance. This study finds that although their numbers are growing, only about 3 percent of registered nongovernmental organizations accredited to participate in the conference are overtly religious in nature—and that more than 80 percent of those faith-based groups are Christian. Additionally, this study finds that religious nongovernmental organizations that participate in the conference are mostly from the Global North. The results call for greater participation of religious institutions in the international climate negotiations in order for society to address the planetary emergency of climate change.

scholarly journals Predicting Paris: Multi-Method Approaches to Forecast the Outcomes of Global Climate Negotiations

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 172-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Detlef F. Sprinz ◽  
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita ◽  
Steffen Kallbekken ◽  
Frans Stokman ◽  
Håkon Sælen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Expert Survey ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
Considerable Uncertainty ◽  
Climate Negotiations ◽  
Negotiation Simulation ◽  
Do So

We examine the negotiations held under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change in Paris, December 2015. Prior to these negotiations, there was considerable uncertainty about whether an agreement would be reached, particularly given that the world’s leaders failed to do so in the 2009 negotiations held in Copenhagen. Amid this uncertainty, we applied three different methods to predict the outcomes: an expert survey and two negotiation simulation models, namely the Exchange Model and the Predictioneer’s Game. After the event, these predictions were assessed against the coded texts that were agreed in Paris. The evidence suggests that combining experts’ predictions to reach a collective expert prediction makes for significantly more accurate predictions than individual experts’ predictions. The differences in the performance between the two different negotiation simulation models were not statistically significant.

1. What is climate change?

2014 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Maslin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Greenhouse Gases ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
Profound Influence

‘What is climate change?’ examines the role of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in moderating past global climate; why they have been rising since the industrial revolution; and why they are now considered dangerous pollutants. It considers which countries have produced the most GHGs and how this is changing with rapid global development. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change regularly collates and assesses the most recent key research and evidence for climate change. Its assessments have a profound influence on the negotiators of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). As more carbon is emitted into the atmosphere the effects of climate change will increase, which will threaten and challenge human society.

scholarly journals Global climate adaptation governance: Why is it not legally binding?

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 540-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Hall ◽  
Åsa Persson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
The Body ◽  
Global Public Good ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
The United Nations

In the last decade, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has moved from a strong focus on mitigation to increasingly address adaptation. Climate change is no longer simply about reducing emissions, but also about enabling countries to deal with its impacts. Yet, most studies of the climate regime have focused on the evolution of mitigation governance and overlooked the increasing number of adaptation-related decisions and initiatives. In this article, we identify the body of rules and commitments on adaptation and suggest that there are more attempts to govern adaptation than many mitigation-focused accounts of the international climate regime would suggest. We then ask: to what degree are adaptation rules and commitments legalized in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change? We examine the degree of precision and obligation of relevant decisions through an extensive analysis of primary United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change documents, secondary literature on adaptation initiatives and institutions, interviews with climate change experts and negotiators, and participant observation at climate negotiations. Our analysis finds that adaptation governance is low in precision and obligation. We suggest that this is partly because adaptation is a contested global public good and because ‘package deals’ are made with mitigation commitments. This article makes a vital contribution to the global environmental politics literature given that adaptation governance is under-studied and poorly understood. It also contributes to the legalization literature by highlighting how contested global public goods may be governed globally, but with low obligation and precision.

scholarly journals COP and the Cloth: Quantitatively and Normatively Assessing Religious NGO Participation at the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Krantz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Nongovernmental Organizations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
Global North ◽  
Quantitative Examination ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Climate Crisis

How much is religion quantitatively involved in global climate politics? After assessing the role of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from a normative perspective, this descriptive, transdisciplinary and unconventional study offers the first comprehensive quantitative examination of religious nongovernmental organizations that formally participate in its annual meetings, the largest attempts to solve the climate crisis through global governance. This study finds that although their numbers are growing, only about 3 percent of registered nongovernmental organizations accredited to participate in the conference are overtly religious in nature — and that more than 80 percent of those faith-based groups are Christian. Additionally, this study finds that religious nongovernmental organizations that participate in the conference are mostly from the Global North. The results call for greater participation of religious institutions in the international climate negotiations in order for society to address the planetary emergency of climate change.

scholarly journals The French contribution to the Global Climate Observing System

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-48
Author(s):  
R. Juvanon du Vachat
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Research Networks ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Operational Networks

Abstract. France is participating fully in the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). It incorporates the following four components: meteorological and atmospheric, oceanic, terrestrial, spatial, which will be briefly presented, especially in relation with the monitoring of the climate. The presentation will give an overview of the general principles governing the GCOS system and particularly the concepts used to maintain efficiently this climate observing system for a long period of time ("from research networks to operational networks"). The presentation will cover all the four components of the GCOS system. The whole report has been published in the Fifth National Communication from France to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). The presentation will give an overview of the different networks of these four domains devoted to the monitoring of climate and maintained by France and highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of this climate observing system.

scholarly journals The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement: Challenges of the Conference of the Parties

Prolegómenos ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (43) ◽  
pp. 125-136
Author(s):  
Lara Santos Zangerolame Taroco ◽  
Ana Cecília Sabbá Colares
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
International Treaty ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Atmospheric Concentrations

The purpose of this article is to analyze, within the scope of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, how the Conference of the Parties provides a new locus for discussion within the International Environmental Law. Increasing scientific evidence about the possibility of global climate change in the 1980s led to growing awareness that human activities have been contributing to substantial increases in the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. Concerned with it, on December 11, 1990, the 45th session of the un General Assembly adopted a resolution that established the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Framework Convention on Climate Change (INC/FCCC). It was the beginning of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and also the beginning of the establishment of the Conferences of the Parties, which is currently in its 25th edition. The Paris Agreement was negotiated at the 21st edition of the Conference of the Parties and is the central theme of this study because of its rel- evance in the context of emission reduction. The Paris Agreement was created in December 2015, and the work on climate change had just begun. The final text of the Paris Agreement addresses important topics. Nonetheless, the document lacks clarity on many subjects, which were intentionally left aside in order to reach consensus to finish the Paris Committee’s work. Considering this scenario and the challenges arising from this international treaty, the article analyzes the Conferences already held until the Paris Agreement. It also reviews the COP21 negotiations from 2015, taking into account a historical comprehension of the in- ternational concern over climate change, and the documents created by the Conference. Finally, this article discusses the developments and setbacks on the subject since 1997, and the objections made by interna- tional actors at the COP21 negotiations.

20. Australia and global climate change

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
Key Drivers

This chapter examines Australia’s engagement with the international politics of global climate change. It first provides an overview of the problem of global climate change and its likely effects, focusing on key complexities and dilemmas regarding climate change, and the evolution of the climate change regime through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process. It then considers key drivers of climate diplomacy, from the ideology and foreign policy perspectives of different governments to the role of public opinion and the ebb and flow of international cooperation. It shows that Australia’s changing approach to climate change cooperation underscores the profound challenges for the climate change regime.

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