Public Perceptions on the Procedural Values and Proposed Outcomes of the Finnish Climate Change Act Amendment

This article examines the public perceptions on the drafting process of Finnish Climate Act amendment, which is a legislation on the climate policy that aims to mitigate climate change and secure adaptive capacity. In this paper we present results of a thematic analysis, which reveals citizens' perceptions of the procedural values, with respect to transparency, participation, and acceptance, and the objectives of the amendment, such as the climate neutrality target for 2035. The research data consisted of 2,458 answers to a citizen survey on the Finnish Climate Change Act amendment. Our results reveal that the opinions of citizens ranged from highlighting the urgency of political action to climate denials, with varying perceptions on process and proposed outcomes. While over half of citizens felt positively about the 2035 climate neutrality target created in the Climate Change Amendment Act, only a third believed that there was appropriate opportunity for public participation in the amendment process. Based on these findings, we suggest that participatory and transparent processes in legislative drafting are prerequisites for the sustainability transition and the implementation of international climate mitigation targets.

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

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.

Inequity in International Climate Change Negotiations

The adoption of international climate agreements requires thorough negotiation between parties. This study aims to analyse the inequities between developed and developing countries in climate negotiations. This was done through a scrutiny of the main stages of these negotiations from the Rio Conference to the advent of the Paris Agreement. Our analysis has shown pervasive inequities along the climate negotiations over time. The UNFCCC made a qualitative separation between developed and developing countries in the principle of common but differentiated responsibility. Furthermore, the Kyoto Protocol emphasized this with the commitment of developed countries to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5%. The Kyoto Protocol by introducing flexibility mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) contributed to increase inequalities. The Paris Agreement has increased inequity by requesting each country to submit nationally determined contributions (NDCs) even though the global emission of developing countries remains very low. The negotiation style of developing countries is mostly limited to compromise and accommodation to the desires of the powerful states, as is the case in most international cooperation. The reality of the climate change negotiations mirrors the inequalities between developed and developing nations.

Moving Towards an ETS in Mexico: The Case of International Cooperation

Mexico has participated in different international climate initiatives and has benefited from international collaboration. This cooperation, both at the political and technical levels, has been crucial for the design and implementation of the national carbon market. Through its climate diplomacy leadership, Mexico has played a key role in international carbon pricing initiatives, and in the technical sphere, the country has benefited from peer-to-peer international experiences and knowledge. This chapter analyzes those initiatives and their contribution to continue broadening collaboration towards a carbon market in the country. It explores how recent changes to the environmental agenda, adopted as of 2018 by the new federal administration, could hinder the implementation of the market mechanism.

BRICS Countries in International Climate Policy

The article presents an analysis of the BRICS countries climate policies at the global and national levels. The authors consider the positions of these states within the framework of both international climate conferences (Conference of the Parties) held under the auspices of the UN since 1992, and the summits of BRICS member states in the years 2011-2020. The paper covers strategies and results of national climate policies implemented in these countries. Using structural, comparative, and content analysis methods, the authors emphasize that BRICS countries play a key role in stabilizing the climate of our planet today. It is impossible to achieve the main aim of the Paris Agreement without a comprehensive transformation of environmental practices in these societies. BRICS adheres to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities in its position towards international climate policy; the BRICS countries stand for sustainable economic growth through the introduction of new environmental technologies, and against restrictive measures that impede their economic development. At the same time, the Russian economys dependence on the extraction and export of fuel resources complicates environmental transformation. Russia is dominated by a negative narrative of climate change, where the urgent ecological modernization of the economy is seen as a threat to key sectors (oil and gas) of the economy. The implementation of international agreements to reduce the carbon intensity of the Russian economy, the creation of conditions for the transition to climate-neutral technologies, would contribute not only to the fight against global climate change, but would become a powerful incentive for the modernization of the economy, accelerating innovation and increasing its competitiveness.

Climate agenda on the eve of COP-26: experience of Latin America

The newest world history has been marked by economic crises, environmental disasters an increase in intrastate and interstate armed conflicts, as well as an escalating confrontation in the field of energy resources. Among these risks, environmental problems such as global warming, sea level rise, soil erosion and shortages of food and fossil fuels have become unprecedentedly visible. This article focuses on a new climate agenda in the light of COP-26, taking place in Glasgow, and the regional experience of Latin America in confronting climate threats and adapting to climate changes since the ratification of the 2015 Paris Agreement. The authors consider the main international climate instruments, as well as those achievements on the way to greening national economies, which were undertaken by the LAC states within the mechanisms of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Since the ratification of the Paris Agreement, every Latin American state has made progress in implementing the environmental agenda and developing legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change. The conclusion highlights the need for broad state participation on the base of proven instruments for solving major environmental problems, further developing early warning systems and consistent implementation of the planned action plans to reduce the risk of disasters and their consequences. Primary importance is attached to interstate dialogue to tackle the environmental challenges, commitment to the responsible fulfillment of international climate agreements and further development of international framework in the field of environmental law. Joint initiatives among the states of the region are expected to have significant effect on reducing emissions of these gases. Moreover, the market-based instruments proposed by the Paris Agreement are known to be an important complement to the ongoing efforts to comply with the overall UNFCCC climate agenda.