Experiments in EU Climate Governance: The Unfulfilled Potential of the Covenant of Mayors

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 122-142
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Domorenok ◽  
Giuseppe Acconcia ◽  
Lena Bendlin ◽  
Xira Ruiz Campillo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Goal Setting ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Sustainable Energy ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Significant Potential ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Experimentalist Governance

Over the last decade, a growing body of academic literature has reflected on how and under which conditions experiments in global climate governance lead to broader changes in rules, norms, and practices helping to meet the challenge of climate change. Drawing on the assumptions of the scholarship on experimentalist governance architectures, this article analyzes the effectiveness of the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) as a comprehensive governance framework that enables the development and coordination of local policies for sustainable energy and climate through a range of joint instruments for recursive goal setting, monitoring, and benchmarking. Our findings illustrate the CoM’s significant potential in terms of both general political uptake and policy output, which could make of this program, if appropriately fine-tuned, a successful governance experiment contributing to building a more effective global climate regime.

International Governance on Carbon Tariff and Its Vacuum in International Regime

2013 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 1350008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mou WANG
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
International Governance ◽  
International Consensus ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Emission Quota ◽  
Carbon Tariff

Drawing on the idea that countries are eligible to implement differentiated emission reduction policies based on their respective capabilities, some parties of UNFCCC attempt to weaken the principle of “Common but differentiated responsibilities(CBDR)” and impose carbon tariff on international trade. This initiative is in fact another camouflage to burden developing countries with emission cut obligation, which has no doubt undermined the development rights of developing countries. This paper defines Carbon Tariff as border measures that target import goods with embodied carbon emission. It can be import tariffs or other domestic tax measures that adjust border tax, which includes plain import tariffs and export rebates, border tax adjustment, emission quota and permit etc. For some developed countries, carbon tariffs mean to sever trade protectionism and to build trade barriers. Its theoretical arguments like “loss of comparative advantage”, “carbon leakage decreases environmental effectiveness” and “theoretical model bases” are pseudo-propositions without international consensus. Carbon tariff has become an intensively debated issue due to its duality of climate change and trade, but neither UNFCCC nor WTO has clarified this issue or has indicated a clear statement in this regard. As a result, it allows some parties to take advantage of this loophole and escape its international climate change obligation. Carbon tariff is an issue arising from global climate governance. To promote the cooperation of global climate governance and safeguard the social and economic development of developing countries, a fair and justified climate change regime and international trade institution should be established, and the settlement of the carbon tariff issue should be addressed within these frameworks. This paper argues that the international governance of carbon tariff should in cooperation with other international agreements; however, principles and guidelines regarding this issue should be developed under the UNFCCC. Based on these principles and guidelines, WTO can develop related technical operation provisions.

scholarly journals Climate governance in an international system under conservative hegemony: the role of major powers

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (spe) ◽  
pp. 9-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Viola ◽  
Matías Franchini ◽  
Thaís Lemos Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
International System ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Major Powers ◽  
Common Character ◽  
Do So

In the last five years, climate change has been established as a central civilizational driver of our time. As a result of this development, the most diversified social processes - as well as the fields of science which study them - have had their dynamics altered. In International Relations, this double challenge could be explained as follows: 1) in empirical terms, climate change imposes a deepening of cooperation levels on the international community, considering the global common character of the atmosphere; and 2) to International Relations as a discipline, climate change demands from the scientific community a conceptual review of the categories designed to approach the development of global climate governance. The goal of this article is to discuss in both conceptual and empirical terms the structure of global climate change governance, through an exploratory research, aiming at identifying the key elements that allow understanding its dynamics. To do so, we rely on the concept of climate powers. This discussion is grounded in the following framework: we now live in an international system under conservative hegemony that is unable to properly respond to the problems of interdependence, among which - and mainly -, the climate issue.

scholarly journals Hydropower in the Context of Sustainable Energy Supply: A Review of Technologies and Challenges

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiyembekezo S. Kaunda ◽  
Cuthbert Z. Kimambo ◽  
Torbjorn K. Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Sustainable Energy ◽  
Energy Resource ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
World Energy ◽  
Hydropower Resource ◽  
Energy Challenge ◽  
Secondary Information

Hydropower is an important renewable energy resource worldwide. However, its development is accompanied with environmental and social drawbacks. Issues of degradation of the environment and climate change can negatively impact hydropower generation. A sustainable hydropower project is possible, but needs proper planning and careful system design to manage the challenges. Well-planned hydropower projects can contribute to supply sustainable energy. An up-to-date knowledge is necessary for energy planners, investors, and other stakeholders to make informed decisions concerning hydropower projects. This is basically a review paper. Apart from using expert knowledge, the authors have also consulted extensively from journals, conference papers, reports, and some documents to get secondary information on the subject. The paper has reviewed the world energy scenario and how hydropower fits in as the solution to the global sustainable energy challenge. Issues of hydropower resource availability, technology, environment and climate change have been also discussed. Hydropower is sensitive to the state of environment, and climate change. With global climate change, though globally the potential is stated to slightly increase, some countries will experience a decrease in potential with increased risks. Adaptation measures are required to sustainably generate hydropower. These are also discussed in the paper.

Filling in for Governments? The Role of the Private Actors in the International Climate Regime

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-28
Author(s):  
Charlotte Streck
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
State Actor ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Private Actors

The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change abandons the Kyoto Protocol’s paradigm of binding emissions targets and relies instead on countries’ voluntary contributions. However, the Paris Agreement encourages not only governments but also sub-national governments, corporations and civil society to contribute to reaching ambitious climate goals. In a transition from the regulated architecture of the Kyoto Protocol to the open system of the Paris Agreement, the Agreement seeks to integrate non-state actors into the treaty-based climate regime. In 2014 the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Peru and France created the Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action (and launched the Global Climate Action portal). In December 2019, this portal recorded more than twenty thousand climate-commitments of private and public non-state entities, making the non-state venues of international climate meetings decisively more exciting than the formal negotiation space. This level engagement and governments’ response to it raises a flurry of questions in relation to the evolving nature of the climate regime and climate change governance, including the role of private actors as standard setters and the lack of accountability mechanisms for non-state actions. This paper takes these developments as occasion to discuss the changing role of private actors in the climate regime.

Building the Forest-Climate Bandwagon: REDD+ and the Logic of Problem Amelioration

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance L. McDermott ◽  
Kelly Levin ◽  
Benjamin Cashore
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Forest Decline ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Social Goals ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Forest Stewardship ◽  
Institutional Solution ◽  
Policy Mechanisms

For those championing an international institutional solution to climate change, the forest-climate linkage through reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and forest enhancement (REDD+) may be one of the most promising strategic linkages to date. Following a series of forest-focused interventions that did not live up to their promise, global forest politics have now, through REDD+ deliberations, been institutionally subsumed into the climate regime. We argue that to realize its potential, REDD+ policy mechanisms must be careful to move away from the commodification of forest stewardship that reinforces short-term strategic positions of powerful producing and consuming interests whose current activities are the culprits of global forest decline. To achieve such an outcome, we argue that institutions must develop on the basis of a “logic of problem amelioration” in which the rationale for achieving clearly defined environmental and social goals is rendered transparent. This could be achieved through the formalization of a “dual effectiveness test” in which interventions are evaluated for their potential to simultaneously ameliorate both global climate change and forest degradation.

China’s Evolving Development Dilemma in the Context of the North-South Climate Governance Debate

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 699-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joyeeta Gupta ◽  
King Yip Wong
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Climate Change Negotiations ◽  
The North ◽  
Zero Sum

This paper examines China’s policy and position in relation to the evolving climate change negotiations in order to explain how China is dealing with the dilemma of meeting its growing development needs while reducing ghg emissions. It argues that global climate governance requires steering and leadership to deal with the interlocked political process; that the developing countries (dcs) right to develop is challenged by the need for ecosystemic standards especially as climate change is seen as a zero-sum game as the more one country emits the less another one can. This is especially problematic as Industrialized countries (ics) appear to be both unwilling and unable to increase growth without increasing emissions. This explains China’s policy of insisting on its right to develop, of demanding that ics reduce their emissions and that they fulfil their obligations under the fccc, while expressing its willingness to take on a voluntary target. The paper argues that China’s state-led transition has eight unique characteristics that may allow it to lead as it moves beyond a no-regrets policy to a circular and green economy, cooperating with other dcs and mobilizing conscious green values in citizens. The question remains—will the initial success and scale of state-led transition lead the global green transition to a sustainable world?

Book Reviews

2010 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 786-788 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Development Policy ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Innovation And Technology ◽  
World Development

Robert Mendelsohn of Yale University reviews “World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change” by. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Explores what climate change means for development policy and considers how public policy can change to better help people cope with new climate-related threats and risks. Discusses understanding the links between climate change and development; reducing human vulnerability--helping people help themselves; managing land and water to feed nine billion people and protect natural systems; energizing development without compromising the climate; integrating development into the global climate regime; generating the funding needed for mitigation and adaptation; accelerating innovation and technology diffusion; and overcoming behavioral and institutional inertia. Glossary; bibliographic note; index.”

scholarly journals Discovery of the Badenian evaporites inside the Carpathian Arc: implications for global climate change and Paratethys salinity

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 193-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katalin Báldi ◽  
Felicitász Velledits ◽  
Stjepan Ćorić ◽  
Viktor Lemberkovics ◽  
Katalin Lőrincz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Normal Saline ◽  
Middle Miocene ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Great Plain ◽  
Geological Record ◽  
Central Paratethys ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Climate Transition

Abstract Massive evaporites were discovered in the Soltvadkert Trough (Great Plain, Hungary) correlating to the Badenian Salinity Crisis (13.8 Ma, Middle Miocene) on the basis of nannoplankton and foraminifera biostratigraphy. This new occurrence from Hungary previously thought to be devoid of evaporites is part of a growing body of evidence of evaporitic basins inside the Carpathian Arc. We suggest the presence of evaporites perhaps in the entire Central Paratethys during the salinity crisis. Different scenarios are suggested for what subsequently happened to these evaporites to explain their presence or absence in the geological record. Where they are present, scenario A suggests that they were preserved in subsiding, deep basins overlain by younger sediments that protected the evaporites from reworking, like in the studied area. Where they are absent, scenario B suggests recycling. Scenario B explains how the supposedly brackish Sarmatian could have been hyper/normal saline locally by providing a source of the excess salt from the reworking and dissolving of BSC halite into seawater. These scenarios suggest a much larger amount of evaporites locked up in the Central Paratethys during the salinity crisis then previously thought, probably contributing to the step-like nature of cooling of the Mid Miocene Climate Transition, the coeval Mi3b.

The Paris Climate Agreement and China’s Role in Global Climate Governance

2016 ◽  
Vol 02 (02) ◽  
pp. 185-200
Author(s):  
Hongyuan Yu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
International Community ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
Paris Climate Agreement ◽  
Combat Climate Change ◽  
Growth Approach

Since the first global summit on climate change was held in 1992, the international community has managed to adopt a series of agreements and action plans to coordinate efforts of all countries to tackle the existing and potential challenges caused by climate change. Yet due to a lack of legally binding mechanisms and the huge discrepancy between developed and developing countries in their respective responsibilities, little progress has been made in international climate negotiation over the past decade. With the joint endeavor of major greenhouse gas emitters, especially emerging economies like China, the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal, the Paris Climate Agreement, was adopted in December 2015, setting up the legal framework of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) and relevant international institutions to combat climate change on a reinterpreted principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR).” Conducive as it is to the institutions and working model of global climate governance, the agreement will attach more responsibilities to developing countries including China. Having developed a strong resolution and given many open international commitments to assume more responsibilities in combating climate change, China should develop a green-growth approach while providing more public goods for the international community, so as to make its best contributions to future global climate governance.

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