Documents Earth System Governance 10 results

"Planetary justice (PJ) requires a profound planetary just transition (PJT). Recognizing the essentially contested nature of just transition (JT) we propose an analytical scheme to better interpret and differentiate amongst the growing number of JT proposals and, by extension, PJTs. After outlining the increasing association of JT proposals with global policy, as well as their proliferation, we employ scale to address their spatial and temporal inclusiveness and scope to address their social and ecological inclusiveness. Assuming that inclusion does not automatically translate into procedural or substantive justice we then propose that JT proposals should also be evaluated in terms of their socioecological purpose, specifically social equality and standing for nature. We then argue that a full understanding of JT must combine inclusiveness and justice and suggest ways in which we can advance the practice and study of Planetary Just Transition ."

"We develop a conceptual framework to empirically analyse conceptualizations of ‘justice' in the context of profound transformations of the earth system. Equity and justice have become central issues in public discourses, political documents and research agendas. However, what justice implies in practice is often elusive. The conceptual framework that we advance seeks to bring structure, clarity, simplicity and comparability among different interpretations of justice in global change research. It reduces the wealth of five broad normative approaches to systematic, parsimonious answers on three key concerns any analyst of justice is facing: the subjects of justice and their relationship; the metrics and principles of justice; and the mechanisms on the basis of which justice is pursued. Our framework is designed for use in empirical analysis. We illustrate its usability by investigating two recent policy documents: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the founding documents of the ‘Future Earth' research platform."

"In this paper, we attempt to contribute to understanding the concept of ‘planetary justice.' Rather than advancing a specific philosophical vision, we attempt to illuminate the theoretical landscape by highlighting a range of distinctions, decision-points, and stakes that are at play in navigating issues of planetary justice. We consider the range of reasons and values that matter for planetary justice, including those related to humans, non-human animals, and non-sentient nature, and complicate this backdrop with another set of distinctions and decision points one must grapple with in order to come to any substantive position or recommend any action on the basis of planetary justice. After surveying some of the leading contemporary approaches to justice to see how they interface with the challenges posed by the concept of planetary justice, we end by distilling why all of this matters for scholars engaged in Earth System Governance research."

"This article aims to analyse the potential for international climate governance to promote the decarbonisation of land transport. It first summarises challenges and barriers that impede the transformation of the sector. On this basis, the article discusses how international governance could potentially assist with overcoming these barriers and mobilising potentials. Subsequently, the article analyses to what extent existing international governance institutions deliver on the potential identified. The analysis finds that while there is a large number of international institutions trying to promote the decarbonisation of land transport, none of them emerge saliently as hubs or core institutions. There is a substantial amount of activity to generate and disseminate knowledge and learning, but the potential for providing guidance and signal, setting rules, providing transparency/accountability and means of implementation could be further exploited. The article concludes with suggestions on how international governance may be strengthened."

"Despite their significant, growing contribution to global emissions, international aviation and shipping have avoided a significant climate governance response until recently. This paper outlines the urgent need for, but major barriers to, decarbonisation of these industries, including various market failures and sensitivities over restraining demand. The need and potential for international governance to address these issues is seen to vary across aviation and shipping, given different industry structures and characteristics. A range of relevant inter- and transnational governance institutions is highlighted and an assessment of their overall adequacy offered. With a 2018 commitment to significant emission reduction, maritime governance effort has progressed further, although significant implementation challenges remain. Meanwhile aviation-related commitments rely more on out-of-sector offsets. Options for enhancing governance for decarbonisation are outlined, highlighting the importance of, inter alia, coordination between the UNFCCC and sectoral bodies, mechanisms to finance R&D and incentivise investment, and openness in key decision-making fora."

"The rapid development of digital technologies such as blockchain and distributed ledger-based systems holds transformative potential for the financial sector. Promising applications include asset management as well as peer-to-peer networks for the transparent exchange of data and information. International climate finance stands to benefit in particular ways from these new opportunities in financial technology. Distributed ledger technologies could be leveraged to support climate action, for example by facilitating transparent and standardized transactions, or by enabling more efficient monitoring and accreditation processes. In view of these promising opportunities, we focus our inquiry on the case of the Green Climate Fund to explore how distributed ledger technologies can be used for innovative climate finance. Based on our analysis of different digital system models and potential use cases, we then discuss some of the technical and political challenges that may arise, for example with regard to standards and safeguards, governance processes, country ownership, and further capitalization. Our findings show that distributed ledger-based systems could benefit the work of the fund in key areas such as multi-stakeholder coordination and impact assessment. However, our analysis also points to the concrete limitations of technology driven solutions. Digital technologies are not a standalone solution to persistent resource allocation and governance challenges in international climate finance, especially because the design and deployment of these digital systems is inherently political."

"This concluding article derives six major findings from the contributions to this special issue. First, the barriers and challenges to decarbonisation vary significantly across sectoral systems. Second, and similarly, the need and potential for the five functions of international governance institutions to contribute to effective climate protection also vary widely. Third, while the pattern is uneven, there is a general undersupply of international climate governance. Fourth, the sectoral analyses confirm that the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement play an important overarching role but remain limited in advancing effective sectoral governance. Fifth, while non-environmental institutions may present important barriers to decarbonisation, more synergistic effects are possible. Sixth, our sectoral approach provides a sound basis on which to identify sector-specific policy options. The paper then offers reflections on the merits and limitations of the sectoral approach, before identifying avenues for future research to further advance the agenda."

"Since modernity, the mechanistic paradigm has determined how Western and Westernised societies live, produce knowledge, and regulate their interactions and institutions, profoundly influencing law and undermining ecological integrity. This paradigm's key features induce the adoption of a reductionist notion of justice by international law, here called mechanistic justice. Following ecological approaches to law, earth system law offers innovative strategies to overcome mechanistic law. To be consistent with its objectives, this legal scholarship must adopt an alternative notion of justice. In this paper, we explore the synergies between earth system law and socio-ecological justice, analysing if the latter fits the purposes of earth system law. To this end, we present the three initial axes of socio-ecological justice, assessing its potential as a tool to support the shift to earth system law. Results show that socio-ecological justice is aligned with earth system law and could be adopted as a guiding legal principle."

"This perspective identifies how recent advances contribute to re-evaluating and re-constructing global environmental negotiations as a research object by calling into question who constitutes an actor and what constitutes a site of agreement formation. Building on this scholarship, we offer the term agreement-making to facilitate further methodological and ethical reflection. The term agreement-making broadens the conceptualisation of the actors, sites and processes constitutive of global environmental agreements and brings to the fore how these are shaped by, reflect and have the potential to re-make or transform the intertwined global order of social, political and economic relations. Agreement-making situates research within these processes, and we suggest that enhancing the methodological diversity and practical utility is a potential avenue for challenging the reproduction of academic dominance. We highlight how COVID-19 requires further adapting research practices and offers an opportunity to question whether we need to be physically present to provide critical insight, analysis and support."

"Many democracies find it difficult to act swiftly on problems such as climate change and biodiversity loss. This is reflected in long-standing debates in research and policy about whether democratic practices are capable of fostering timely, large-scale transformations towards sustainability. Drawing on an integrative review of scholarly literature from 2011 to early 2021 on sustainability transformations and the democracy-environment nexus, this article synthesises existing research on prospects and pitfalls for democratising sustainability transformations. We advance a new typology for understanding various combinations of democratic/authoritarian practices and of transformations towards/away from sustainability. We then explore the role of democratic practices in accelerating or obstructing five key dimensions of sustainability transformations: institutional, social, economic, technological, and epistemic. Across all dimensions we find substantial evidence that democratic practices can foster transformations towards sustainability, and we conclude by outlining a set of associated policy recommendations."