LIST OF PANELS

Climate change is a cross-cutting issue which causes, and consequences cannot be addressed by a singular level of governance or policy sector (Gupta, 2008). On one hand, it is influenced by GHG anthropogenic emissions from different sources (e.g. deforestation, fossil fuel consumption, cattle, etc.) reflecting the cross-sectoral perspective of this policy field (Schmitz, 2016). On the other hand, the unbalanced geographical distribution of climate change impacts and GHG emission sources (within and across countries) adds an extra challenge with regard to the ways in which  different levels of political power tend to address (and support) climate action (Bernstein and Hoffmann, 2018).

These cross-sectoral and multilevel features of climate change policies shine light on the complexity of the governance of this policy field. Reaching well-balanced and effective policy agreements to mitigate GHG will require a high level of preparedness of governments and policy makers. For instance, fragmented responsibilities across governmental actors; policy coordination and integration; unbalanced flow of information between decision-makers; lack of financial and technical capacities within and between line-ministries and levels of government; vested interests; and the way in which the political authority is dispersed within a country, are some of the challenges that countries and their institutions must address to build an effective governance for climate policies.

In the last decades, the literature on climate multilevel governance was primarily focused on the supranational and transnational issues of climate governance. Little theoretical and empirical attention has been paid to the internal country dynamics with regard to the way  they are reaching policy agreements, reframing institutions and overcoming different barriers to enhance GHG mitigation actions and to employ climate agenda as a genuine opportunity to improve their respective economic development models (Jörgensen et al, 2015; Jordan et al, 2018; Gupta 2008; Fuhr and Lederer, 2009). Such lack of research, especially in the Global South, tends to obscure what happens within the “black box” of the national level and to what extent climate action is being effectively taken within countries´ policy and political systems.

It is of critical importance to leverage the academic understanding about what is happening at the national and subnational ground of climate policy making and implementation, especially in the context of the post-pandemic economic recovery, where countries will need to find ways to resume economic activity without neglecting the current status of climate emergency that the world is facing. On that basis, this panel seeks to foster a structured discussion about the ways in which national and subnational levels of governmental are working in their country contexts to lower GHG emissions and build low carbon pathways in carbon-intense sectors of their respective economies.

By encouraging the academic debate about the manner in which countries are building their governance arrangements to reduce GHG emissions we expect to contribute to the literature on climate multilevel governance and federalism. Ultimately, we also aim to foster the search for evidence and theories concerning the way  climate change policies are governed within the same level of government  (national level) and across different levels (national and subnational levels), a strand which we expect to be vastly explored by scholars and practitioners in the coming decades.

References

Bernstein, S., Hoffmann, M. 2018. Decarbonisation: The Politics of Transformation in Jordan, A., et al., eds., 2018. Governing climate change: polycentricity in action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Gupta, J. 2007. The multi-level governance challenge of climate change, Environmental Sciences, 4:3, 131-137, DOI: 10.1080/15693430701742669

Jordan, A., Huitema, D., Van Asselt, H., Forster, J. (eds.). 2018. Governing climate change: polycentricity in action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Fuhr, H, Lederer, M (2009) Varieties of Carbon Governance in Newly Industrializing Countries. The Journal of Environment & Development 18 (4), 327-345.

Kirsten Jörgensen, K., Jogesh, A., Mishra, A. 2015. Multi-level climate governance and the role of the subnational level, Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences, 12:4, 235-245, DOI: 10.1080/1943815X.2015.1096797

Schmitz, H., 2016. Evidence report no. 180 – who drives climate-relevant policies in the rising power? [online] Available at:  <https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/9933/ER180_WhoDrivesClimaterelevantPoliciesintheRisingPowers.pdf;jsessionid=053CB7C225A209A3824043EF5C56638C?sequence=1> [Accessed 11 December 2017].

The goal of this panel is to bring together researchers from different disciplines and locations interested in exploring coordination and governance of climate policies at national and subnational levels. We believe that transnational and global arrangements of governance matter to international efforts in keeping the global average temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, as stated in/prescribed by the Paris Agreement. However, as the Paris Agreement recognizes, addressing this global challenge will require noticeable efforts from countries, states, and municipalities.

This includes the ways in which different levels of governments (national and subnational) internally organize themselves in terms of design, implementation, coordination, integration and monitoring of GHG mitigation policies as well as the quality of the interaction between these different tiers of political and administrative powers to work in collaboration and to avoid overlaps in common policy agendas.

To facilitate this exchange of ideas and perspectives, this panel seeks empirical and theoretical contributions on national and subnational climate governance. We are particularly interested in the discussion of capacities, policy instruments/tools and strategic approaches that would increase the quality and the effectiveness of climate governance in promoting GHG mitigation.

This panel encourages comparative methods in order to highlight similarities and differences between countries and economic sectors in the promotion of low carbon transformations. Contributions related to the challenges faced by the Global South in this regard are specially welcomed. Possible research questions include:

●       How are intragovernmental climate policy arrangements organized and coordinated amongst governmental actors in the promotion of GHG mitigation actions in relevant carbon intensive sectors?

●       What are the types of political and institutional gaps that tend to prevail in national and subnational climate governance arrangements?

●       To what extent do different systems of government (Federal / Unitary / Confederate) influence the ways in which climate policies are governed?

●       What type of capacities should national and subnational governments pursue to better implement GHG mitigation policies?

●       To what extent can policy networks and “climate alliances” (e.g. C40) improve the quality of climate governance in national and subnational contexts?

●       What is the role of the Centre of Government in fostering integration and coordination of GHG mitigation policies?

●       What are the promising types of coordination mechanisms to improve the quality of climate governance?

●       To what extent can the rise of climate denialism undermine pre-established successful national and subnational climate governance arrangements?