Sustainable Development Goals

Ein internationales regulatorisches System neuer Art entsteht derzeit spontan aus dem Versagen der internationalen „Old Governance“ – also der bestehenden internationalen Vertrage und Organisationen – dabei, den internationalen Handel angemessen zu regulieren. Nichtregierungsorganisationen, Unternehmen und andere Akteure – allein und in ganz neuen Kombinationen – schaffen sich neue internationale Einrichtungen, um transnationale Normen auf internationale Geschaftstatigkeit anzuwenden. Es geht dabei vornehmlich um private Einrichtungen, die vor allem uber freiwillige Standardbefolgung wirken. In diesem Beitrag werden die unterschiedlichen Regulierungseinrichtungen als Teil eines „Governance Dreiecks“ beschreiben und das geschieht vor allem in Blick darauf, welche Rollen die unterschiedlichen Akteure in ihrer Tatigkeit spielen. Um dieses komplexe System zu untersuchen passen wir das innenpolitische Regulierungsmodell der „New Governance“ an den internationalen Rahmen an. Die „Transnational New Governance“ enthalt viele Vorteile der „New Governance“ und sie ist fur Sfb 597 „Staatlichkeit im Wandel“ - „Transformations of the State“ (WP 127) die internationale Regulierung besonders angemessen, weil sie geringere Anforderungen an die Staatenwelt und an die intergouvernementalen Organisationen, die IGOs, stellen. Allerdings ist es fur eine wirksame „Transnational New Governance“ weiterhin erforderlich, dass die Staaten und die IGOs das internationale regulatorische System „orchestrieren“. Das heutige internationale regulatorische System leidet allerdings unter einem Orchestrierungsdefizit. Wurden die Staaten und die IGOs die „anweisende“ und „ermoglichende“ Orchestrierungsfunktion des „Transnational New Governance System“ ausbauen, dann starkten sie die privaten regulatorischen Standards von hoher Qualitat, verbesserten das internationale regulatorische System und konnten ihre eigenen regulatorischen Ziele besser verwirklichen.

http://edoc.vifapol.de/opus/volltexte/2013/4173/pdf/AP_127_2010.pdf

Strengthening international regulation through transnational new governance : overcoming the orchestration deficitthrough Orchestration

The international response to climate change has been inadequate, but not zero. There are 1,800 climate change laws worldwide. We use panel data on legislative activity in 133 countries over the period 1999–2016 to identify statistically the short-term and long-term impact of climate legislation. Each new law reduces annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 0.78% nationally in the short term (during the first three years) and by 1.79% in the long term (beyond three years). The results are driven by parliamentary acts and by countries with a strong rule of law. In 2016, current climate laws were associated with an annual reduction in global CO2 emissions of 5.9 GtCO2, more than the US CO2 output that year. Cumulative CO2 emissions savings from 1999 to 2016 amount to 38 GtCO2, or one year’s worth of global CO2 output. The impact on other greenhouse gases is much lower. Climate change laws are shown to reduce national CO2 emissions by 0.78% in their first three years and 1.79% in the longer term. These reductions add up to 38 GtCO2 of avoided emissions for 1999–2016—equal to a year of CO2 emissions.

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Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from national climate legislation

In climate change as in other issue areas, recent years have produced a "Cambrian explosion" of international and transnational institutions, rules, implementation mechanisms, financing arrangements and operational programs. This renders governance highly complex: climate governance is not only fragmented but decentralized, operating with little central coordination. It is more appropriate to view it as a regime "complex" than as a unified regime.

The Transnational Regime Complex for Climate Change

Studies of climate change litigation have proliferated over the past two decades, as lawsuits across the world increasingly bring policy debates about climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as climate change‐related loss and damage to the attention of courts. We systematically identify 130 articles on climate change litigation published in English in the law and social sciences between 2000 and 2018 to identify research trajectories. In addition to a budding interdisciplinarity in scholarly interest in climate change litigation we also document a growing understanding of the full spectrum of actors involved and implicated in climate lawsuits and the range of motivations and/or strategic imperatives underpinning their engagement with the law. Situating this within the broader academic literature on the topic we then highlight a number of cutting edge trends and opportunities for future research. Four emerging themes are explored in detail: the relationship between litigation and governance; how time and scale feature in climate litigation; the role of science; and what has been coined the “human rights turn” in climate change litigation. We highlight the limits of existing work and the need for future research—not limited to legal scholarship—to evaluate the impact of both regulatory and anti‐regulatory climate‐related lawsuits, and to explore a wider set of jurisdictions, actors and themes. Addressing these issues and questions will help to develop a deeper understanding of the conditions under which litigation will strengthen or undermine climate governance. This article is categorized under: Policy and Governance > Multilevel and Transnational Climate Change Governance

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Climate change litigation: A review of research on courts and litigants in climate governance

Linkages: Understanding Their Role in Polycentric Governance

A global transition towards renewable energy is key for a sustainable future, and effective global governance is required to make this possible. However, global renewable energy governance is often regarded as fragmented and ineffective. Existing research has provided useful insights into the multiplicity of governance goals and diversity in institutions, but an understanding of underlying frames is yet lacking. Frame analysis explores how actors interpret and define a problem in different ways, based on which different solutions can be put forward of which some are more adequate than others. It thus provides a compelling new angle to the scientific debate on fragmentation. This paper therefore poses the question how the global energy challenge and the role of renewables are framed throughout the overall institutional complex for renewable energy, among different institutional types, and across individual institutions. To facilitate the search for an answer, it applies an innovative computational method that allows for a large-scale and multi-level frame analysis. The results demonstrate that renewable energy institutions currently prioritize climate change, with a stronger growing focus on universal access to energy services, while undermining concerns of energy scarcity. Nevertheless, frames vary strongly across different levels of governance, and among various types of institutions. The paper therewith forms an important contribution to our understanding of global renewable energy governance and its fragmented nature.

Shattered frames in global energy governance : Exploring fragmented interpretations among renewable energy institutions

How institutional interactions can strengthen effectiveness : The case of multi-stakeholder partnerships for renewable energy

Theoretical advances suggest that international governance in general and the Paris Agreement in particular provide a strong signal guiding sociotechnical systems toward decarbonization. We assess this signal and its effects empirically, by examining the struggle of competing narratives as present in the communications of leading US fossil fuel industry associations and companies. The results are then discussed in the context of the national and international climate and energy policy debates in a study period from late 2014 until the announcement of withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in June 2017. We find that the Paris Agreement has institutionalized a narrative paradigm that is surprisingly resilient. While the election of Donald Trump and his climate and energy policy led to a narrative shift in the coal industry, the oil and gas industry remained conspicuously silent in its immediate response and maintained its narrative strategies despite its alignment with the Paris Agreement.

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Make Fossil Fuels Great Again? The Paris Agreement, Trump, and the US Fossil Fuel Industry

Given the interconnectedness of climate change and sustainable development, policymakers and scholars have started to investigate how climate actions can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and vice versa. To date, research has mainly focused on the national and international levels, while little is known about the interlinkages between climate actions and the SDGs at the transnational level. Not only nation states, but also non-state actors undertake ambitious actions designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to promote sustainable development. Using content analysis and network analysis techniques, we examine the interlinkages between the climate actions of 72 transnational initiatives and the 169 targets of the 17 SDGs. We find that actions of 71 initiatives contribute to achieving 16 SDGs, thus generating valuable co-benefits. Besides SDG 13 on climate action and SDG 17 on partnerships for the goals, transnational climate actions frequently address SDGs 9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure, SDG 7 on affordable and clean energy, and SDG 12 on responsible consumption and production. While SDG 3 on good health and well-being and SDG 4 on quality education are barely addressed, SDG 5 on gender equality is not at all covered by transnational climate actions. Additionally, the network reveals that SDG 9 is highly synergistic with many other frequently addressed SDGs and functions as an important connector between them. Finally, our results indicate that transnational initiatives fill a governance gap left by states with regards to SDG 12. Climate initiatives of non-state actors can thus complement state-led actions to implement the Paris Agreement and the SDGs jointly.

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Lisa Sanderink

Papers

Linkages: Understanding Their Role in Polycentric Governance

Shattered frames in global energy governance : Exploring fragmented interpretations among renewable energy institutions

How institutional interactions can strengthen effectiveness : The case of multi-stakeholder partnerships for renewable energy

Make Fossil Fuels Great Again? The Paris Agreement, Trump, and the US Fossil Fuel Industry

Two degrees and the SDGs: a network analysis of the interlinkages between transnational climate actions and the Sustainable Development Goals