Rethinking Authority in Global Climate Governance: How transnational climate initiatives relate to the international climate regime

Description

In the past few years, numerous authors have highlighted the emergence of transnational climate initiatives, such as city networks, private certification schemes, and business self-regulation in the policy domain of climate change. While these transnational governance arrangements can surely contribute to solving the problem of climate change, their development by different types of sub- and non-state actors does not imply a weakening of the intergovernmental level. On the contrary, many transnational climate initiatives use the international climate regime as a point of reference and have adopted various rules and procedures from international agreements. Rethinking Authority in Global Climate Governance puts forward this argument and expands upon it, using case studies which suggest that the effective operation of transnational climate initiatives strongly relies on the existence of an international regulatory framework created by nation-states. Thus, this book emphasizes the centrality of the intergovernmental process clustered around the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and underscores that multilateral treaty-making continues to be more important than many scholars and policy-makers suppose. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of global environmental politics, climate change and sustainable development. Cover Title Copyright Contents List of tables Acknowledgements Abbreviations 1 Introduction: the reconfiguration of authority in world politics Overview Sub- and non-state actors in world politics Major concepts of international relations theory Outline of the book Structure 2 The evolution of global climate governance The growing importance of sub- and non-state actors The development of the political response to climate change Institutional complexity in global climate governance Research gap Focus of the book 3 Setting the scene: theoretical background and analytical framework Defining authority Theoretical approaches to the concept of authority Research design Case studies Methods of data collection 4 Transnational city networks: the ICLEI network Overview The emergence of transnational city networks in global climate governance The ICLEI network and the international climate regime Summary Conclusions 5 Private certification schemes: the Gold Standard for Carbon Offsets Overview The emergence of private certification schemes in global climate governance The Gold Standard for Carbon Offsets and the international climate regime Summary Conclusions 6 Business self-regulation: the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Overview The emergence of business self-regulation in global climate governance The Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the international climate regime Summary Conclusions 7 Conclusions Summary Cross-case comparison Theoretical implications Practical relevance Outlook Appendix I: list of interviews conducted Appendix II: list of attended meetings Index