Strengthening institutions to address climate change and advance a green economy

Overview

The 2nd Global Conference on Environmental Governance and Democracy will take place in the margins of the United Nations Millennium Development Goal Summit, 20-22 September, New York. Focusing on the theme of Strengthening Institutions to Address Climate Change and Advance a Green Economy, the event will take stock of and examine the role of institutional structures and decision-making procedures in fostering (or impeding) low carbon and climate resilient development. Papers and discussions will cover various levels of governance (i.e. global, regional, transnational, national, sub-national, and local) as well as specialized governance topics, including governance of climate change science, financing and forestry. Anticipated outcomes of the conference include a research agenda and enhanced knowledge sharing to better understand the openness, transparency, accountability and effectiveness of institutions engaged in action to address climate change.

Objectives

With the emergence of climate change as a key policy issue, existing institutions must innovate and adjust to achieve more effective climate change governance (Meadowcroft 2009). Yet, given the dispersion of environmental governance research in various academic disciplines, limited interdisciplinary analysis and knowledge-sharing has taken place to date on how institutions and their stakeholder engagement rules affect policyprocesses and action to address climate change and foster a green economy. Similarly, there has been limited interaction and knowledge exchange between academics and policy makers on these matters. As countries and international bodies continue to reform institutions and establish new institutions in response to the global climate change challenge, sharing knowledge on the effectiveness of institutions and governance structures is considered important, timely, and of significant policy relevance.

Taking in account the above considerations, the 2nd Global Conference on Environmental Governance and Democracy aims to:
- Take stock of existing knowledge and research concerning the interface of institutions, stakeholder engagement, and effective decision-making and action to address climate change and advance a green economy.
- Identify institutional features and stakeholder engagement practises that are conducive in fostering climate resilient development and a green economy at different levels of governance.
- Identify research gaps and develop a research agenda to advance institutional analysis that can help to address real world policy problems and challenges.
- Explore opportunities for sustained sharing of knowledge on climate change and green development institutions and governance among the academic community and policy-makers.

Themes

The conference will address a number of specific themes, grouped within two clusters. The first cluster is concerned with different levels of governance and the linkages among them. The second cluster deals with specialized topics, including governance of climate change science, financing and forestry.

Levels of governance
1. Global, Regional and Intergovernmental Governance: How do institutions that facilitate climate change governance at the global, regional and intergovernmental level (e.g. the UNFCCC, IPCC, UNEP, regional bodies, transnational networks, etc.) perform in terms of effectiveness, openness, transparency, and accountability? What are the opportunities to enhance these institutions and to strengthen the coherence of global climate change governance within the international environmental governance architecture?
2. National, Sub-national and Local Level Governance: What institutional structures and mechanisms are emerging at the national, sub-national and local level to address climate change adaptation, mitigation and advance a green economy? How do these institutions perform in terms of stakeholder engagement and in fostering effective action?
3. Multilevel Governance: What issues of climate change adaptation, mitigation and green economic development require coherent multi-level governance? What are key challenges to achieve such coherence and how can effective stakeholder engagement
across levels of governance be achieved?

Specialized governance topics
1. Governance of Climate Change Science: What are features of effective institutions and governance processes to generate scientific climate change knowledge at the international, national and local level, respectively? What institutional factors may impede effective governance of climate change science?
2. Governance of Climate Change Financing: Given the significant financial transactions that will occur under a new climate change regime, how can institutions assure transparency, accountability and equity of financing, both at the donor/investor and recipient level?
3. Governance of Climate Change Forestry: Given the prominent role that forestry issues are playing within the new international climate change regime (i.e. REDD+), how can institutions assure the transparency, accountability and effectiveness of climate related forestry governance? What are good governance practices and how can related challenges be addressed effectively?