The Role of United Nations Secretary‐General in the Climate Change Process

Pasztor, Janos

doi:10.1111/1758-5899.12345

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…The strong backing of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon helped to elicit leadership by, and action among, UN agencies (Pasztor, 2016); half of the UN Climate Summit actions are led by UN agencies and international organizations. The active role of UN and international organizations indicates an eagerness to extend their limited formal authority by mobilizing other actors to take on governance functions, playing an 'orchestrating' role, and brokering initiatives involving public and private actors (Abbott, Genschel, Snidal, & Zangl, 2015;.…”

Section: Participation and Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effective and geographically balanced? An output-based assessment of non-state climate actions

et al. 2016

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At COP21 in Paris, governments reiterated the importance of 'non-Party' contributions, placing big bets that the efforts of cities, regions, investors, companies, and other social groups will help keep average global warming limited to well under 2°C. However, there is little systematic knowledge concerning the performance of nonstate and subnational efforts. We established a database of 52 climate actions launched at the 2014 UN Climate Summit in New York to assess output performance -that is, the production of relevant outputs -to understand whether they are likely to deliver social and environmental impacts. Moreover, we assess to which extent climate actions are implemented across developed and developing countries. We find that climate actions are starting to deliver, and output performance after one year is higher than one might expect from previous experiences with similar actions. However, differences exist between action areas: resilience actions have yet to produce specific outputs, whereas energy and industry actions perform above average. Furthermore, imbalances between developing and developed countries persist. While many actions target low-income and lower-middle-income economies, the implementation gap in these countries remains greater. More efforts are necessary to mobilize and implement actions that benefit the world's most vulnerable people. Policy relevanceClimate actions by non-state and subnational actors are an important complement to the multilateral climate regime and the associated contributions made by national governments. Although such actions hold much potential, we still know very little about how they could deliver in practice. This article addresses this knowledge gap, by showing how 52 climate actions announced at the UN Climate Summit in 2014 have performed thus far. Based on our analysis, we argue that the post-Paris action agenda for non-state and subnational climate action should (1) find more effective ways to incentivize private sector actors to engage in transnational climate governance through actions that seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote climate resilience in a tangible manner; (2) identify factors underlying effectiveness, to take appropriate measures to support underperforming climate actions; and (3) address the large implementation gap of climate actions in developing countries. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Section: Participation and Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effective and geographically balanced? An output-based assessment of non-state climate actions

et al. 2016

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“…First, many of the key states engaged in assiduous behind-the-scenes diplomacy to ensure they were closely aligned on the most important issues (Brun, 2016). Finally, it is important to appreciate the skillful steering and management of the negotiation process by the UN Secretary General, the UNFCCC secretariat, and French Global Policy (2018) Global Climate Governance hosts of the COP (see, for instance, Pasztor, 2016). Second, these efforts were complemented by growing evidence of widespread commitment to ambitious action on the part of: (1) states, through the growing number of INDCs that were steadily being released in advance of the Paris COP; (2) global cities and multinational corporations, who had become prominent 'global governors' over the previous 15 years through a range of public commitments and initiatives; and; (3) concerned citizens and civil society groups, who engaged in enormous demonstrations and intense public lobbying, all of which generated significant political momentum Bulkeley et al, 2014;Jacobs, 2016; also see Avant et al, 2010).…”

Section: Paris: Forging a New Approach To Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, these efforts were complemented by growing evidence of widespread commitment to ambitious action on the part of: (1) states, through the growing number of INDCs that were steadily being released in advance of the Paris COP; (2) global cities and multinational corporations, who had become prominent 'global governors' over the previous 15 years through a range of public commitments and initiatives; and; (3) concerned citizens and civil society groups, who engaged in enormous demonstrations and intense public lobbying, all of which generated significant political momentum Bulkeley et al, 2014;Jacobs, 2016; also see Avant et al, 2010). Finally, it is important to appreciate the skillful steering and management of the negotiation process by the UN Secretary General, the UNFCCC secretariat, and French Global Policy (2018) Global Climate Governance hosts of the COP (see, for instance, Pasztor, 2016). While none of these factors were sufficient on their own, they jointly helped to facilitate a successful conclusion to the negotiations.…”

Section: Paris: Forging a New Approach To Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Three Models of Global Climate Governance: From Kyoto to Paris and Beyond

Held

Roger

2018

Global Policy

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The Paris Agreement has emerged as one of the world's most important international treaties. Many believe that it offers a new approach to the problem of climate change, can contribute significantly to the goal of reducing emissions, and may hold lessons for how to govern other cross‐border issues. As a result, it has been the focus of considerable debate among scholars and policy makers. But how precisely does Paris seek to govern global warming and is it likely to work in practice? We address this question by contrasting the Paris ‘model’ of climate governance with earlier ones associated with the Kyoto Protocol and Copenhagen Accord. These models have taken different approaches to the problem of governing climate change, each with attendant advantages and limitations. The Paris model advances upon earlier efforts in certain respects, but also blends elements from earlier models. We then lay out the central axes of the debate that has emerged about the future of the Paris model, and discuss research illuminating how it may operate in practice. The agreement's success will depend on how the agreement is implemented, and on how the UNFCCC process interacts with the complementary approaches to climate governance appearing beyond it.

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“…The leadership from UN climate chief Christiana Figueres inspired, convinced, and compelled. Referred to as ‘climate revolutionary’ and ‘bridge‐builder’, Figueres urged repeatedly that ‘we must, we can and we will.’ Importantly, UN Secretary General Ban Ki‐moon made it his personal mission to reach an ambitious agreement (Pasztor, ).…”

Section: Outcomes Exceed Expectationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Good COP, Bad COP: Climate Reality after Paris

Ivanova

2016

Global Policy

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The twenty‐first Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris was a good COP in contrast to COP15 in Copenhagen, which will remain in history as the low point in climate policy. COP21 demonstrated unprecedented global collaboration when divisions were deep and stakes were high and resulted in the Paris Agreement, the first legally binding document to articulate a clear global temperature goal and a commitment to reach global net‐zero emissions after 2050. The agreement is also universal, with developed and developing countries alike expected to act. This article outlines key outcomes and explains what led to the shift from a bad to a good COP. It also examines the threats and opportunities as the world moves from making commitments to implementing them and draws parallels to the global agenda‐setting process on sustainable development that is also unfolding in the United Nations at the same time.

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The Role of United Nations Secretary‐General in the Climate Change Process

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Effective and geographically balanced? An output-based assessment of non-state climate actions

Effective and geographically balanced? An output-based assessment of non-state climate actions

Three Models of Global Climate Governance: From Kyoto to Paris and Beyond

Good COP, Bad COP: Climate Reality after Paris

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