scholarly journals Cities Towards Global Climate Governance: How the Practices of City Diplomacy Foster Hybrid Multilateralism

2021 ◽  
pp. 365-377
Author(s):  
Nikola Strachová
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Agreements ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
International Climate Agreements ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Global Values

One of the effects of globalization is the increasing number of transnational ties that central governments not only ceased to control but also ceased to participate in; therefore, in recent decades, cities have been increasingly motivated to respond to international issues and initiate various contacts with foreign economic, cultural, and political centres. This article examines practices of city diplomacy in light of the current climate crisis. Albeit cities could be in conflict with their central government, they are executing the global climate agenda. Nonetheless, how do we frame cities’ autonomous activities in the global governance agenda? The article seeks to determine whether the framework of hybrid multilateralism is the niche for cities to assume the role of the central government in defending common global values such as preservation of the environment when the state fails to do so. Based on a dataset consisting of various subnational initiatives responding to climate change, we suggest a remarkable growth in the pledges to the international climate agreements’ commitments involving many subnational actors. Through these pledges, cities enter the international negotiations with various partners under hybrid policy architecture. Cities hold an enormous potential to influence the global conversation on climate change agenda. Furthermore, we conclude that cities are taking on the states’ role in global issues when they identify the inadequacy of the central governments’ action. Their conflict position forces them to carry out autonomous activities and fosters the new phenomenon of hybrid multilateralism.

scholarly journals International climate change negotiation: the role of Brazil

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-395
Author(s):  
Marcela Cardoso Guilles Da Conceição ◽  
Renato de Aragão Ribeiro Rodrigues ◽  
Fernanda Reis Cordeiro ◽  
Fernando Vieira Cesário ◽  
Gracie Verde Selva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
International Negotiation ◽  
Climate Change Negotiations ◽  
Essential Condition ◽  
Average Temperature ◽  
Social And Economic Development ◽  
International Climate ◽  
International Climate Change

The increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere raises the average temperature of the planet, triggering problems that threaten the survival of humans. Protecting the global climate from the effects of climate change is an essential condition for sustaining life. For this reason, governments, scientists, and society are joining forces to propose better solutions that could well-rounded environmentally, social and economic development relationships. International climate change negotiations involve many countries in establishing strategies to mitigate the problem. Therefore, understanding international negotiation processes and how ratified agreements impact a country is of fundamental importance. The purpose of this paper is to systematize information about how climate negotiations have progressed, detailing key moments and results, analyzing the role that Brazil played in the course of these negotiations and the country’s future perspectives.

scholarly journals Better predictions, better allocations: scientific advances and adaptation to climate change

2015 ◽  
Vol 373 (2055) ◽  
pp. 20150122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark C. Freeman ◽  
Ben Groom ◽  
Richard J. Zeckhauser
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Consumption Smoothing ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Climate Agreements ◽  
International Climate Agreements ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Informative Signals

Climate science initially aspired to improve understanding of what the future would bring, and thereby produce appropriate public policies and effective international climate agreements. If that hope is dashed, as now seems probable, effective policies for adapting to climate change become critical. Climate science assumes new responsibilities by helping to foster more appropriate adaptation measures, which might include shifting modes or locales of production. This theoretical article focuses on two broader tools: consumption smoothing in response to the risk of future losses, and physical adaptation measures to reduce potential damages. It shows that informative signals on the effects of climate change facilitate better decisions on the use of each tool, thereby increasing social welfare.

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.

scholarly journals Market responses to global governance: International climate cooperation and Europe's carbon trading

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Federica Genovese
Keyword(s):  
Global Climate ◽  
Emission Trading ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Environmental Cooperation ◽  
Climate Agreements ◽  
Climate Negotiations ◽  
International Climate Agreements ◽  
International Climate ◽  
International Climate Negotiations

Abstract International environmental cooperation can impose significant costs on private firms. Yet, in recent years some companies have been supportive of international climate agreements. This suggests that under certain conditions environmental accords can be profitable. In this paper, I seek to explain this puzzle by focusing on the interaction between domestic regulation and decisions at international climate negotiations. I argue that global climate cooperation hurts the profits of polluting firms if domestic governments do not shield them from international compliance costs. Vice versa, if firms are subject to protective (i.e., insufficiently severe) policy instruments at home, firms can materially gain from international climate agreements that sustain expectations about their profitability. I test the argument with an event study of the effect of decisions at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on major European firms that received free carbon permits in the early stages of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The analysis suggests that financial markets carefully follow the international climate negotiations, and reward the regulated firms based on the outcome of UNFCCC decisions. The evidence also indicates the advantageous interplay between certain types of domestic regulations and international regimes for business. More generally, the results show the perils of privately supported policy for the effectiveness of international public good provision.

scholarly journals Dynamic climate clubs: On the effectiveness of incentives in global climate agreements

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (45) ◽  
pp. e2109988118
Author(s):  
William Nordhaus
Keyword(s):  
Global Climate ◽  
Free Riding ◽  
Climate Agreements ◽  
Incentive Compatible ◽  
Potential Strength ◽  
Single Period ◽  
International Climate Policy ◽  
International Climate Agreements ◽  
Trade Sanctions ◽  
International Climate

A proposal to combat free riding in international climate agreements is the establishment of a climate club—a coalition of countries in a structure to encourage high levels of participation. Empirical models of climate clubs in the early stages relied on the analysis of single-period coalition formation. The earlier results suggested that there were limits to the potential strength of clubs and that it would be difficult to have deep abatement strategies in the club framework. The current study extends the single-period approach to many periods and develops an approach analyzing “supportable policies” to analyze multiperiod clubs. The major element of the present study is the interaction between club effectiveness and rapid technological change. Neither alone will produce incentive-compatible policies that can attain the ambitious objectives of international climate policy. The trade sanctions without rapid technological decarbonization will be too costly to produce deep abatement; similarly, rapid technological decarbonization by itself will not induce deep abatement because of country free riding. However, the two together can achieve international climate objectives.

scholarly journals Trade–Climate Nexus: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Economies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Jeremiás Máté Balogh ◽  
Tamás Mizik
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Emission Reduction ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Negotiation ◽  
Climate Agreements ◽  
Environmental Goods

In the climate–trade debate, moderate attention is dedicated to the role of trade agreements on climate. In turn, trade agreements could help countries meet climate goals by removing tariffs, harmonizing standards on environmental goods, and eliminating distorting subsidies on fossil fuels. This paper aims to provide an overview of the role of trade agreements on climate-change mitigation. This systematic literature review is based on the international economic literature published between 2010 and 2020. This literature review underlines that the effectiveness of the trade agreements and WTO negotiations on emission reduction is weak. This is due to different national interests and protectionism. The elimination of trade barriers stimulates trade, but this may also raise greenhouse gas emissions and cause other environmental problems (e.g., deforestation). Furthermore, this article points out that emission leakage is also a crucial issue hindering the success of global climate agreements on greenhouse gas reduction. The greatest beneficiaries of the trade agreements are usually the largest GHG emitters, such as China, the US, and the EU. By contrast, developing countries are in a weaker position regarding climate–trade negotiation. The literature review offers policy solutions which can contribute to emission reduction and tools for stimulating a trade-related climate-change abatement policy.

scholarly journals Non-state Actors in the International Climate Change Regulatory Framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-104
Author(s):  
Sina Bergmann
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Governance Model ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
International Climate ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Law Making ◽  
International Climate Change

Global climate governance is multilateral and involves both state and non-state actors. This study sets to identify the ways in which non-state actors can access and participate in the international climate change regime under the UNFCCC and the 2015 Paris Agreement and to evaluate how they can influence law-making processes and outcomes under the agreements. The study further provides recommendations on how the involvement of non-state actors can be improved under the agreements. The study emphasizes that under the UNFCCC, non-state actors have an important role in acting as intermediaries under the orchestration governance model and in participating to the Conference of Parties and under the Paris Agreement, by exerting influence on state’s nationally determined contributions. The study suggests that the role of non-state actors in formulating nationally determined contributions and in participating to the Conference of Parties should be further formalised and that the NAZCA portal should be improved.

Tourism, climate change and the geopolitics of arctic development: the critical case of Greenland

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Development Trajectory ◽  
Tourism Climate ◽  
Climate Crisis

Abstract This book focuses on the context, nature and role of tourism in Greenland, and is set within an overlapping geopolitical frame of: (a)the heightening climate crisis; (b)Greenland's trajectory towards political independence from Denmark; (c)its concept of economic 'self-sustainability' in supporting this trajectory; and (d)growing international interest in, and competition for, Greenland's natural resources and infrastructure projects. The last in its turn partly reflects improving land and sea accessibility afforded by climate change, which paradoxically both challenges and encourages Greenland's concepts of sustainable development, within which tourism plays an ambivalent role: while elements of global and local tourism have been seeking to create a more responsible sector, within Greenland's development trajectory tourism appears to be supporting a sustainability ideology that ignores, or at best camouflages, the climate crisis. The central themes of this book therefore employ the role of tourism and travel as a lens through which to examine climatic, societal, economic and geopolitical change in the Arctic as specifically articulated in the experience of Greenland. The 'critical' situations in which Greenland finds itself reflect external perceptions of the global climate crisis and geostrategic maneuvering over Arctic resources, and domestic considerations of socio-economic development and increased sovereignty. The volume thereby highlights the close and often critical interrelationships between the local, regional and global. A recurring observation is the paradox, one of several of a region hitherto regarded as peripheral but which is becoming increasingly central to global concerns, with tourism-related dynamics reflecting such centrality. In this way, this book aims to: (1) emphasise the critical role of change in the Arctic in general and in Greenland in particular; (2) highlight critical interrelationships between tourism, climate change and the geopolitics of Arctic development, where 'geopolitics' is interpreted as applying at a number of scales from the interpersonal and quotidian to the global geostrategic; and (3) provide a critical examination of Greenland's post-colonial tourism development path, as the territory becomes the focus of increasing global interest. This book is organised into three parts with a total of 13 chapters.

A Regime Paralyzed: An Exploration of Current Climate Politics and the Urgent Need for Reform

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenna Owen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
International System ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
To Come ◽  
Climate Crisis

The science on climate change is in: legitimate scientists have been unable to provide serious scientific evidence that casts doubt on the fact that anthropogenic, that is, human-caused climate change is occurring. Less clear are the speed of climate change and the extent of damages to environmental and human health if emissions from fossil fuels continue unabated. The most recent international conference on the environment, namely the 2013 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or Conference of the Parties (COP) 19, was characterized by bitter intergovernmental negotiations and non-committal by major emitters to watered-down agreements. COP 19 exemplifies the inadequacies inherent in the current international system, which render it incapable of effectively addressing climate change; in other words, the international community remains unable to come to an agreement or agreements that mitigate the effects of climate change now, while establishing adaptation mechanisms for the future as the effects of climate change become increasingly pronounced. The efficacy of the current regime is impeded not only by its singular, non-binding approach to emissions reduction, but also by the ability of a small number of major emitters’ ability to hinder agreements. In order to make rising to the challenge of the global climate crisis politically feasible, the international climate regime must abandon the current emissions cap approach and adopt an incremental approach to negotiations, crafting sector-specific agreements that aim to gradually reduce emissions in a viable and equitable manner.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document