Abstract
The importance of actions by non-state and sub-national actors (e.g., companies and cities) is increasingly recognized, because current governmental commitments are insufficient to limit the increase of global temperatures to 1.5 °C. Orchestration, the alignment between ‘orchestrator’ (e.g., international organizations and governments) and ‘intermediaries’ (e.g., city networks and partnerships), could harness additional contributions by building catalytic linkages and by enabling a growing number of actions. Although most orchestration efforts have been made in the context of international climate negotiations, regional and national orchestration could be useful by contributing to the implementation of national commitments, and by inspiring greater ambition. We investigate whether and how regional and national orchestrators respond to shortfalls in international orchestration. Using insights from a comparative study, we provide an early indication of the catalytic potential of orchestration in Latin America, Europe, India, Argentina, and Sweden. We find considerable impacts of global level orchestration on the emergence of these initiatives, however orchestrators do not simply copy other efforts; they emphasize different catalytic linkages, including the engagement of underrepresented actors; implementation; and, the provision of ideational and material support. Catalytic linkages in a complex landscape with multiple orchestrators could sometimes be improved through coordination. Given the enormous scale of transformation needed, a focus on scale may seem natural. However, for socially just outcomes, orchestrators need to resist a sole focus on scale, and also aim at experimental and small-scale actions, which may not lead to immediate large-scale impacts but which may prove crucial in longer-term transformations.
Highlights
This article is part of a special issue on achieving 1.5C and climate justice, and focuses on how national and regional orchestration of climate action can address the limitations of international attempts to orchestrate non-state and sub-national actors, most notably the Global Climate Action Agenda, by enhancing catalytic linkages.If all government commitments [‘nationally determined contributions’ (NDCs)] under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) would be implemented, it would result in an estimated 2.6–3.1 °C warming by the end of this century (Rogelj et al 2016)
What does current international orchestration of climate action achieve in terms of building catalytic linkages, and where does it fall short to deliver on the goals of the Paris Agreement? Second, to what extent and how are local and regional orchestration initiatives inspired by international orchestration, and do they respond by creating additional catalytic linkages to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement? We argue that there are two types of catalytic linkages
The five cases suggest that the Global Climate Action Agenda’ (GCAA) has had indirect catalytic effects on the emergence and development of national and regional orchestration initiatives
Summary
This article is part of a special issue on achieving 1.5C and climate justice, and focuses on how national and regional orchestration of climate action can address the limitations of international attempts to orchestrate non-state and sub-national actors, most notably the Global Climate Action Agenda, by enhancing catalytic linkages. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to address climate change impacts, for example by mobilizing actions by non-state (e.g., companies and investors) and sub-national (e.g., cities and regions) actors (Chan and Pauw 2014; Chan et al 2015; Hale and Roger 2014; Widerberg 2017). We assess whether orchestrators improve catalytic linkages in governance by (1) engaging new and underrepresented actors; (2) contributing to the implementation of NDCs; (3) emphasizing the 1.5 °C target and associated concerns over social justice and equity; and/ or (4) providing ideational and material support. The final section discusses findings and the role of orchestration in realizing a resilient and safer \ 1.5 °C world
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