Abstract
ABSTRACT The impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and the global response to it will co-determine the future of climate policy. The recovery packages responding to the impacts of the pandemic may either help to chart a new sustainable course, or they will further cement existing high-emission pathways and thwart the achievement of the Paris Agreement objectives. This article discusses how international climate governance may help align the recovery packages with the climate agenda. For this purpose, the article investigates five key governance functions through which international institutions may contribute: send guidance and signals, establish rules and standards, provide transparency and accountability, organize the provision of means of implementation, and promote collective learning. Reflecting on these functions, the article finds that the process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), together with other international institutions, could promote sustainable recovery in several ways. Key policy insights The incoming UK presidency of the Conference of the Parties (COP) should urge Parties to present transformative sustainable stimulus packages alongside more ambitious nationally determined contributions (NDCs) at the postponed Glasgow Climate Conference (COP 26). Specific principles and criteria for sustainable recovery should be adopted. A coalition of interested governments should work through institutions such as G20 to enable swift action even before COP 26. The Glasgow Conference should establish a process to review the consistency of recovery packages with the Paris Agreement and their implementation, to support their sustainability and promote policy learning. Developed countries and international financial institutions should renew their climate finance commitments, and work towards an increased long-term finance objective in the context of greening recovery packages. At COP 26 governments could take stock of the ‘Paris-compatibility’ of international recovery support and adopt further guidance as necessary.
Highlights
2020 was supposed to be the year of climate ambition
With its high public profile, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process could still make several important contributions, in particular if the on-going preparatory process for the Glasgow Conference were utilized swiftly, for example building on the five-year anniversary event to be co-hosted by the UK and the UN Secretary-General in December 2020
Other relevant fora, such as the G20, or coalitions of interested governments should be used for elements that are time critical, in particular for the development of principles and criteria for sustainable recovery, and for giving direction to the provision of means of implementation
Summary
2020 was supposed to be the year of climate ambition. The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) countries have so far put forward under the Paris Agreement fall far short of what would be required to achieve the Agreement’s long-term objectives of keeping the rise in the global mean temperature since the start of industrialization ‘well below’ 2 degrees Celsius, and to pursue a more ambitious goal of 1.5 degrees. The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP 26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Glasgow in November 2020 was supposed to be the culmination point of an intensive diplomatic process on ratcheting up climate ambition (Obergassel et al, 2020). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Glasgow Conference has been postponed to November 2021 and climate policy development has come under pressure
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