International Climate Governance Research Articles

Bridging the gender, climate, and health gap: the road to COP29.

Focusing specifically on the gender-climate-health nexus, this Personal View builds on existing feminist works and analyses to discuss why intersectional approaches to climate policy and inclusive representation in climate decision making are crucial for achieving just and equitable solutions to address the impacts of climate change on human health and societies. This Personal View highlights how women, girls, and gender-diverse people often face disproportionate climate-related health impacts, particularly those who experience compounding and overlapping vulnerabilities due to current and former systems of oppression. We summarise the insufficient meaningful inclusion of gender, health, and their intersection in international climate governance. Despite the tendency to conflate gender equality with number-based representation, climate governance under the UNFCCC (1995-2023) remains dominated by men, with several countries projected to take over a decade to achieve gender parity in their Party delegations. Advancing gender-responsiveness in climate policy and implementation and promoting equitable participation in climate governance will not only improve the inclusivity and effectiveness of national strategies, but will also build more resilient, equitable, and healthier societies.

The challenge of ratcheting up climate ambitions: Implementing the ‘experimentalist‘ EU energy and climate governance regulation

ABSTRACT The 2015 Paris climate Agreement established a ‘bottom-up’, pledge and review process as international climate governance’s central framework. The European Union’s governance framework – the Energy and Climate Governance Regulation (EUGR) – uses a similar architecture. Both require states to regularly create, revise and update national plans while ramping up ambitions towards meeting the collectively agreed commitments and sharing features of Experimentalist Governance. This paper contributes to the debate on experimentalist climate governance’s effectiveness. It assesses systematically the implementation of EUGR based on documentary analysis and expert interviews. We find that the process has been partially effective in raising ambitions but has remained incremental, technocratic and depoliticised. Experimentalist processes such as the EUGR and Paris Agreement require a high level of public and stakeholder engagement to operate but politicisation can have, in turn, adverse effects. This raises questions regarding the ability of experimentalist climate governance to deliver, alone, rapid emission reductions.

Financing loss and damage and international climate governance: A climate justice perspective

Financing loss and damage and international climate governance: A climate justice perspective

The framing of Indigenous and local ecological knowledge amidst climate change education in the COP27 cyberspace

ABSTRACT We explore representations of Indigenous and local ecological knowledge (IEK/LEK) within the cyberspace of COP27 through a digital ethnography of the UNESCO-UNFCCC Webinar Series organized to supplement the in-person meetings that took place in Egypt. Through frame analysis and an accounting of UNFCCC literature on knowledge produced by Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs), we argue that while the UN’s efforts toward inclusivity are valuable, this webinar demonstrates the significant shortcomings of international climate governance’s engagement with IEK and LEK. Digital spaces surrounding global climate governance represent a contradictory dualism for Indigenous and at-risk communities, as these spaces both provide an outlet for decentralized climate activism and a method of co-optation by neoliberal forces orbiting the UN system. We argue that meaningful changes are necessary in the digital approaches of the UNFCCC and UNESCO to climate change education and epistemic inclusivity to account for the place-based, localized impacts of global climate governance. The changes should reflect the diversity of IEK and LEK forms, give agency to IPLCs to determine whether to share climate information, and must include adequate representation from affected communities.

External power dynamics and international climate governance in a crises-constrained world

ABSTRACT This paper explores equity in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations during a time of multiple overlapping global crises. Drawing on a combination of semi-structured interviews and a roundtable with key negotiators and observers engaged in the UNFCCC process during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a collaborative ethnographic study and social media analysis on the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), we find that inequities within the UNFCCC process reflect the broader social and geopolitical inequities at international and intranational levels. Multiple intersecting crises reinforce and compound these inequities for particularly marginalized and vulnerable groups and slow progress in tackling climate change in an equitable manner. Applying a critical climate justice lens, we show that in order for the climate negotiations to be resilient to global crises, the process needs to go beyond a surface-level attempt at achieving justice through representation and move towards a more active shifting of power to poor and climate-vulnerable countries and populations.

Fit for purpose? Just Energy Transition Partnerships and accountability in international climate governance

AbstractThis contribution examines whether just energy transition partnerships (JETPs), a new type of financial agreement between G7/G7‐allies and low‐to‐middle income states, can serve as accountability mechanisms for the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It identifies important structural elements from the existing literature on climate governance for holding actors to account and then assesses the extent to which they are present within JETPs. While JETPs appear in theory to offer increased potential to shore up accountability in the UNFCCC, the case of the South African JETP demonstrates that the presence of these structural elements is likely insufficient to ensure accountability vis‐à‐vis the UNFCCC. This preliminary analysis therefore finds several practical limitations to accountability within JETPs and dense governance spaces in general. It thus points to the importance of identifying the underlying conditions needed for institutional accountability structures to function as designed.

Here to stay? Challenges to liberal environmentalism in regional climate governance

AbstractWhile regionalism is highly relevant in many policy fields today, regional idiosyncrasies have been poorly understood in the literature on multilateral climate governance. This article explores regional ideas in climate governance by comparing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS). As international climate governance has institutionalised a normative compromise of liberal environmentalism since the 1990s, the article further assesses ideational challenges to this compromise. It examines how these ideas have evolved over time and explains variation between the organisations through the advent of new knowledge. Relying on qualitative content analysis, the article finds that both CARICOM and CBSS have supported and reproduced liberal environmentalism in the past. More recently, CARICOM has started to connect climate change with notions of survival and justice, implicitly challenging liberal environmentalism, while CBSS remains situated within established discourses of sustainable development. The article then argues that the availability of new knowledge from both scientific as well as experiential sources explains the evolution of ideas in regional organisations. Problem definitions of climate change evolve within regional organisations when officials gain access to new scientific data and are able to combine or confirm them with experience from their day‐to‐day work.

Don’t believe the hype?: Imagined business futures and overpromising for a decarbonized economy

International climate governance is increasingly focusing on the role of the private sector. This article explores how companies translate the narrative of deep decarbonization into their entrepreneurial visions of the future. Based on a qualitative multiple case study, it shows that overpromising is an essential feature of imagined business futures, and identifies three forms of overpromising: contradiction, exaggeration, and commitment. The research article contributes to the emerging field of hype and overpromising by proposing a contextual and nuanced understanding of overpromising. The results illustrate the power of desirable transformation narratives, but also their limitations and side effects.

SRM on the table: the role of geoengineering for the stability and effectiveness of climate coalitions

Geoengineering, including solar radiation management (SRM), has received increasing scrutiny due to the rise of climate extremes and slow progress in mitigating global carbon emissions. This climate policy option, even as a possibility, can have consequential implications for international climate governance. Here, we study how solar engineering affects the effectiveness and stability of a large set of regional coalitions through numerical simulations. We posit a requirement in terms of global political or economic power and analyze the exclusive membership coalition formation process when coalitions jointly decide on geoengineering and mitigation. We show that geoengineering can provide incentives for cooperation and partially solve the typical trade-off between stability and effectiveness of climate coalitions. However, temperature reduction mostly comes from deploying SRM within the coalition rather than from further emission reductions, thus exposing the world to relatively large-scale deployment of SRM with as of today uncertain potential side effects and risks.

International governance of technological carbon removal: Surfacing questions, exploring solutions

This paper examines questions about governing technological carbon removal methods, proposes potential avenues for resolving emerging challenges, and explores the role that existing international bodies and processes may be able to play in resolution. It aims to inform research and orient civil society, academic, and other groups focused on supporting responsible scale-up of technological carbon removal, as well as international bodies able to implement guidance that countries may use as they develop plans for technological CDR deployment. Key questions and proposed solutions were informed by a literature review; a series of consultations with experts in carbon removal, international climate governance, and deep decarbonization; plus an expert stakeholder meeting. The goal of this work is to spur discussion among stakeholders interested in, or supporting development of, carbon removal policy, including those working with or in international bodies responsible for guiding and overseeing international climate planning. It is important to note that carbon removal approaches traditionally known as “nature-based” or “natural,” including tree restoration and forest management, are not within the scope of this paper, as they have long been included in climate plans.

Информальные структуры и диалоговые форматы в международном климатическом управлении

In recent years there was a significant of international structures that are being created as platforms for multilateral policydialogue on climate change issues outside the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).Such structures are, for example, the Major Economies Forum (MEF), the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, the on CleanEnergy Ministerial and a wide variety of partnerships. There is no common definition for such formats of cooperation andconceptual ground for understanding their place in international climate governance system. This includes both traditionalinterstate cooperation mechanisms embodied by the UNFCCC, as well as non-state initiatives, climate finance institutions,formats that support a constant dialogue between states, business representatives, academia, and NGOs on climate policyissues. The aim of the study was to clarify the nature of quasi-formal climate governance, to establish a typology and assessof the dynamics of development of quasi-formal entities to better understand the processes of its formation and implementation.I describe three types of quasi-formal entities from the new dataset of quasi-formal entities created in the period from2001–2022: intergovernmental forums, UNFCCC party groupings, and hybrid partnerships. The study reveals an increasein the number of political forums and hybrid partnerships amid stabilization or even reduction of negotiating blocs within theUNFCCC. In complex system of international climate governance, quasi-formal entities are playing an increasing role inthe accumulation and exchange of knowledge and experience between states on the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Putting the constructive ambiguity of climate change loss and damage into practice: The early work of the UNFCCC WIM ExCom

AbstractThe establishment within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts (L&D) resulted from a loose consensus that emerged based on a constructively ambiguous understanding of what climate change loss and damage is and how to best address this policy problem. Different actors have understood and advocated for divergent conceptualizations of L&D: some frame it through the lens of risk and see comprehensive disaster risk management strategies, insurance schemes and post hoc humanitarian approaches as most appropriate. Others understand it through the lens of climate justice, emphasizing the harms that arise because of climate change losses and damages and advocate for compensation as an appropriate policy response. How does this ambiguity embedded within the climate regime translate into practice during the implementation stage? This research shows that ideational contestation over L&D has specific implications for institutional development, including: (i) the composition and expertise of the governing Executive Committee (ExCom); and (ii) the practices of agenda‐setting and the development of the ExCom's workplan. Drawing on multi‐sited ethnographic data and interviews with key stakeholders, this analysis identifies some of the ways in which constructive ambiguity can become embodied and institutionalized in L&D governance. It also points to a paradox in international climate governance—that the very ambiguity that allowed for the institutional embedding of L&D is also the driver of continued contestation, facilitates the re‐negotiating of issues already agreed and explains institutional delays in effectively grappling with the losses and damages that are already taking place.

Missed opportunities: the impact of internal compartmentalisation on EU diplomacy across the international regime complex on climate change

ABSTRACT International climate governance no longer takes place only in the UNFCCC but is spread across numerous fora that collectively form the international regime complex on climate change. For climate leaders like the EU, the regime complex creates opportunities for strategic activity in its diplomacy across the different fora. This article examines how internal compartmentalisation affected the EU’s diplomacy across the international regime complex on climate change in the negotiation of four climate agreements: the Paris Agreement (UNFCCC), CORSIA (ICAO), the Kigali Amendment (Montreal Protocol), and the Initial Strategy (IMO). It finds that internal compartmentalisation indeed hinders the EU’s pursuit of a comprehensive climate diplomacy, making the regime complex a missed opportunity for the EU. Various combinations of a lack of communication channels, different priorities and policy framings, and a lack of resources and expertise contributed to situations where the EU was limited in using the regime complex.

Climate change governance and Indigenous Peoples participation: an analysis from the Chilean case

ABSTRACT The effects of climate policy depend on the coherent integration of social, environmental and economic challenges, including Indigenous Peoples' demand for self-determination. Although Indigenous Peoples are gaining prominence in international climate change debates, their involvement in national legislation remains marginal. From an ethnographic approach, this article assesses the vertical coherence – integration of objectives set in international commitments, national policymaking and local implementation – of Chilean climate governance regarding Indigenous People's participation. I conducted documentary analysis, participant observation and interviews. International pledges promoting the participation of Indigenous Peoples in climate policy are increasing. However, these pledges may not translate into success at the national level. Fostering effective participation of Indigenous Peoples demands intercultural competences that critically address the challenges of policy implementation in Indigenous territories and better analysis of climate policy impacts, including stakeholders assessments. With justice as a guiding principle, national efforts can promote the transformation of international climate governance.

It’s not as simple as copy/paste: the EU’s remobilisation of the High Ambition Coalition in international climate governance

It’s not as simple as copy/paste: the EU’s remobilisation of the High Ambition Coalition in international climate governance

An emerging governmentality of climate change loss and damage

Loss and damage is the “third pillar” of international climate governance alongside mitigation and adaptation. When mitigation and adaptation fail, losses and damages occur. Scholars have been reacting to international political discourse centred around governing actual or potential severe losses and damages from climate change. Large gaps exist in relation to understanding the underlying power dimensions, rationalities, knowledges, and technologies of loss and damage governance and science. We draw from a Foucauldian-inspired governmentality framework to argue there is an emerging governmentality of loss and damage. We find, among other things, that root causes of loss and damage are being obscured, Western knowledge and technocratic interventions are centred, and there are colonial presupposed subjectivities of Global South victims of climate change, which are being contested by people bearing the brunt of the climate crisis. We propose future directions for critical research on climate change loss and damage.

Non basta dire green. Le politiche climatiche alla prova della realtà in Etiopia

The article aims to analyse Ethiopia’s climate policies and the country’s positioning in international forums by exploring the narratives constructed with climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and plans since the 1992 Rio Declarations to the launch of the 2019 Green Legacy campaigns. But in the face of diligence in the production of such policies by FDRE governments, at the local level, as in the four kebele in Northern and Southern Ethiopia researched ethnographically, there is no echo of longstanding climate policy. In the name of climate change, new labels have been given to old projects to support farmers in their daily lives. Indeed, this article intends to show how those plans and strategies are produced to remain as such and not become practices, and to intercept the acclaim and economic support of international climate governance.

Climate Change Policies of Canada and China

The climate issue has become one of the topics of common concern today. Therefore, climate change policies have become increasingly crucial in domestic economic development and participation in international affairs. However, throughout the development of climate governance, there are similarities and differences in the formulation of climate policies between east and west countries. This paper chooses Canada as the representative of the western countries and China as the representative of the eastern countries to make a comparative analysis of the two countries’ climate governance process, the domestic climate actions, and the participation in International Climate Governance in recent years and uses the realism theory to explain. This paper finds that due to the differences in economic development and political systems in the history of Canada and China, the climate policies of the two countries develop differently. However, today, when the climate issue is becoming more urgent, the two countries face the common pressure brought by the climate issue and the common interests in solving the climate issue. Their climate change policies are highly similar.

The Problem with Children in Politics

Abstract Inspired by the forceful emergence of youth activism around climate change in 2019 and the body of scholarship on youth political involvement, we evaluate youths’ claims to being political in the international climate governance process. To do this, we survey documentation of youth activity around the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), so we can gauge the extent of youth participation. We produce analyses of four sets of records: mainstream newspapers, UNFCCC programming, independent media outlets and youth NGO websites. We find that, while youth are participating more, existing forms of documentation are inadequate. We suggest that genre writing can capture lost voices in politics, and that standard documentation remains critically important to recording youth political participation.

Counting Carbon or Counting Coal? Anchoring Climate Governance in Fossil Fuel–Based Accountability Frameworks

Abstract For decades, the object of international climate governance has been greenhouse gases. The inadequacy of decarbonization based on this system has prompted calls to expand climate governance to include restrictions on fossil fuel supply. Such initiatives could rely on accountability frameworks based on fossil fuel reserves, production, or infrastructure, yet there has been little consideration of the different implications of these options. We inform such discussions by undertaking a sociotechnical analysis of existing schemes for the monitoring, reporting and verification of fossil fuels. We identify serious risks from anchoring climate governance in fossil fuel reserves. More promising directions for supply-side governance lie in accountability frameworks based on a combination of fossil fuel production volumes and infrastructure, since these are more transparent to multiple actors. This transparency would provide much-needed opportunities for democratic oversight of the data underpinning climate governance, opening new channels for holding states accountable for their climate performance.