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Environmental governance occurs through and is shaped by communication. We propose a typology of public communication, classifying it by directionality (one-way or two-way) and objective (informational or operational). We then review how communication types influence individuals' conceptual frames, values, and environmental behaviors. Though one-way communication is common, its impact is often limited to influencing conceptual frames. Research on two-way informational communication demonstrates a greater ability to align conceptual frames and values among individuals, and research on two-way operational communication demonstrates the greatest impact on conceptual frames, values, and environmental behaviors. Factors that affect the impact of communication include the medium through which it occurs, trust, timing, and social-material context. Among these, our review considers new directions in public communication research that focus on the role of digital platforms, misinformation, and disinformation. We conclude by synthesizing research on deliberative communication, a case of communication among citizens guided by democratic ideals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise in global sea levels poses a substantial, sometimes existential threat to coastal cities around the world, such as Bangkok, Lagos, or Jakarta. Adaptation projects range from hard infrastructure to nature-based solutions or 'planned retreat', often having severe implications in terms of equity and equality. Given the threat of urban flooding and submergence, this paper asks how 'the future' for these cities is imagined, and how sociotechnical imaginaries of climate futures inform policymaking. Using insights from poststructuralism and Science and Technology Studies (STS), I argue that the way of 'seeing' and 'knowing' sea level rise is constitutive of the rationalities that undergird the governing of rising water around the world. I trace the discrete operations of the discursive formations and imaginaries that have evolved globally around the issue of sea level rise, with their own distinctive logics. Analyzing a variety of globally circulating policy documents and local adaptation projects, I show how the governance of sea level rise is based on a very specific 'expert' knowledge that allows re-designing sinking cities 'from above'. This kind of knowledge, provided by a depoliticizing global network of consultants, designers, and development banks, privileges imaginaries of modernity and control using technology and engineering, as well as ideas on how populations in flood-prone areas are expected to govern themselves in the advent of rising sea levels. These imaginaries tend to marginalize alternative local adaptation practices, lead to unintended outcomes, and often discriminate against those who are already vulnerable to climate change impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of policy entrepreneurs has gained increasing attention in studies of policy change, including climate policy and governance. It foregrounds the role of agency in understanding policy change. However, agency of policy entrepreneurs in the policy process is political and conceals the power that shapes how public problems and policies are framed and defined. Thus, policy entrepreneurs should be confronted with the challenge of generating legitimacy, accountability, and justice in their actions and the implementation of their targeted policy change. Drawing on political–philosophical theories of liberal and deliberative democracy as well as environmental and ecological democracy this paper outlines a conceptual framework for critical analytical as well as normative research on strategies and impacts of policy entrepreneurs on democratic governance, primarily in climate policy but also more generally. Empirical research on the strategies and impacts of policy entrepreneurs in recent policymaking on climate change mitigation in the EU and Sweden identifies several deficits related to the democratic principles of legitimacy, accountability, and justice. It is found that policy entrepreneurs from different social spheres use cultural–institutional entrepreneurship to influence beliefs and perceptions on problems and policies. In addition, it is found that public sector policy entrepreneurs use structural entrepreneurship on ideological grounds to change existing power relations in climate governance. In all, the paper brings ideology and politics into research on policy entrepreneurs. It is suggested that not only the strategies used, but also the ideologies of the actors that use them, are decisive for the impacts of policy entrepreneurs, and thus, whether their advocacy will adhere to democratic norms and facilitate or hamper a just transition to climate neutrality and sustainability. The paper ends with proposals on how policy entrepreneurs can act more democratically, how to deal with populist policy entrepreneurs wanting to erode democracy, and conditions for climate justice movements to take responsibility and act in a more entrepreneurial way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the challenges of decentralising climate governance in the Global South in the context of intensifying climate change. Using qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, we interviewed a total of 112 participants who participated in the study, including traditional leaders, ward councillors, subject-matter experts, government officials and members of the public who took part in focus group discussions. Our results show that devolution, delegation, deconcentration and privatisation have been used as strategies for decentralising climate action in the Itezhi-Tezhi District. However, these methods of decentralisation are affected by several factors, including unclear rules for elected and appointed leaders, which influence the devolution of decision-making responsibilities at the local government level. Regarding delegation, decentralising climate governance is affected by inadequate public participation, particularly in the design and execution of climate initiatives in the Kafue wetlands. Furthermore, this article shows that deconcentration is likely to affect climate governance because the national government has not deconcentrated the units for climate governance from the line ministry to the local authority. Privatisation, which has been an effective way of decentralising climate governance in the Kafue wetlands, has also been problematic due to inadequate community participation. These challenges and opportunities serve as lessons for building resilience in effective decentralised climate governance in the Kafue wetlands. This article adds to the ongoing discourse on the efficacy of decentralising climate governance in the Global South and offers valuable insights for future research in this genre of academic inquiry in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In the complex world of international negotiations, nation-states often navigate a spectrum of political relationships, from alliances and partnerships to competition and rivalry. Despite their diverse backgrounds and interests, the BRICS countries collectively constitute a significant proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions. Drawing upon the principles of neoliberal institutionalism, this study delves into the origins of the BRICS cooperation mechanism and its impact on climate cooperation among its member states. Our analysis traces the climate policies of BRICS nations since the inception of the UNFCCC in 1992, taking into consideration factors such as their level of economic development, environmental vulnerability, and the broader international political context. We argue that these three factors primarily shape the dynamics of alliance and partnership within BRICS regarding climate governance, although underlying competition may also influence collaborative efforts. This study aims to stimulate further theoretical discourse on the formation of political alliances within the context of global climate governance.

Cities and local governments are important actors in the global governance of climate change; however, the specific governance principles and arrangements that enable urban climate plans and policies to realize commitments to social equity and justice remain largely unexplored. This article uses the City of Barcelona, Spain, as a critical case study of emerging “intersectional climate justice” practice, where plans to build resilience to climate change are pursued in conjunction with efforts to tackle structural inequalities in accessing the built environment, health services, energy, housing, and transportation experienced by frontline communities. The study illustrates how Barcelona and its community partners do this through four different categories of governance and decision-making tactics, which include: (1) experimenting with disruptive planning strategies; (2) working transversally across agencies and actors to institutionalize climate justice over time; (3) putting care at the center of urban planning; and (4) mobilizing place-based approaches to tackle intersecting vulnerabilities of frontline residents. These tactics seek to redistribute the benefits of climate-resilient infrastructures more fairly and to enhance participatory processes more meaningfully. Finally, we assess the limitations and challenges of mobilizing these tactics in everyday urban politics. Barcelona's experience contributes to research on climate governance by challenging the notion of distinct waves of governance and revealing concurrent dimensions of climate urbanism that coexist spatially and temporally. Our research also illustrates lessons for fairer climate governance in the city, where different tactics are mobilized to address structural and intersecting socioeconomic vulnerabilities that exacerbate the experience of climate change of frontline residents.

We present a thorough analysis of the scientific production in climate change and adaptation in Brazil. We conducted a bibliometric and bibliographic review to reveal and discuss how climate change research has been carried out. We compared a broader climate change research dataset with a more specific climate adaptation research dataset, to understand the main differences and convergence points, and how science conducted from a mitigation and adaptation perspective demonstrates potential to confront the climate change challenges and drivers in Brazil. Four main clusters of investigation within climate change were detected: (1) impacts on forest and plant development, (2) land use and ecology, (3) adaptation/governance, and (4) climate/atmospheric studies. Only about 5% of the total studies on climate change address adaptation, for which three main clusters of research were identified: (1) adaptation actions and policies; (2) urban environment, vulnerability, and health and (3) food and coastal impacts. Although there are strong research trends in climate change for the Amazon Forest, there was less evidence of studies concerning climate adaptation for this and other Brazilian biomes, smaller cities, rural and traditional communities, and poorer regions. Our results shed a light on the more commonly chosen research topics, their strongest points and potential gaps and trends. This can contribute to the scientific communication and implementation of climate actions in Brazil, and a better understanding of the climate science knowledge from the perspective of a middle-income country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study recalculates the carbon emissions of urban and rural residents in China, analyzing the dynamic evolution trends of urban and rural carbon emissions. It explores the spatial spillover effects centered around the inequality in carbon emissions between urban and rural areas. Methods: The study calculates the carbon emissions of urban and rural residents in each province based on the IPCC method. Non- parametric kernel density estimation is employed to depict the dynamic evolution characteristics of national, urban, and rural carbon emissions. The Theil Index is used to measure the disparities in urban and rural carbon emissions in major strategic regions, further applying the Theil Index to evaluate the inequality of urban and rural carbon emissions across provinces. This helps identify the driving factors affecting the inequality of urban and rural carbon emissions and their spatiotemporal effects. Finding: Carbon emissions from urban and rural residents in China present a divergent development pattern. Urban emissions have increased, with interprovincial disparities widening; rural emissions tend to stabilize, with slight growth in inter-provincial gaps. The overall inequality of carbon emissions in various regions of China experiences a three-phase journey of rise, decline, and stabilization. Urban inequality first increases then decreases, while rural inequality gradually lessens, showing clear regional and urban-rural differences. Market and government factors significantly impact the inequality of urban and rural carbon emissions. The development of the digital economy aids in reducing inequality and generates significant spatial spillover effects. The relationship between economic development level and carbon emission inequality is U-shaped. Industrial structure optimization can reduce urban-rural inequality, but its spatial spillover effect is not significant. Government intervention has limited effects, while environmental regulations may increase inequality. Opening up to the outside world helps reduce inequality, and the impact of population density is complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of corporate characteristics on climate change governance among 100 of the world's largest companies, with 1400 observations in the fiscal year 2020. We consider variables such as company location, size, profitability, female board representation, years of reporting using Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) guidelines, the inclusion of UN Global Compact and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) information, Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) membership, MSCI ESG ratings, and the presence of a climate transition plan, a sustainability executive, and a sustainability board committee. Applying a multi-theoretical framework, we employ correlation analysis and univariate and multiple linear regressions to assess the relationships. Our findings reveal positive correlations between climate governance and the presence of a climate transition plan, MSCI ratings, DJSI membership, and the existence of a sustainability executive. Additionally, companies located in developed countries exhibit significantly higher levels of climate change governance. These results hold across various scenarios, offering valuable insights for researchers, academics, business leaders, practitioners, and regulators. With the growing importance of climate change reporting, understanding the key contributing factors for effective climate governance is crucial for organizations seeking to address this critical issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academics have often contributed to designing, running, and evaluating participatory events with publics on climate action. Whilst climate assemblies are perhaps the most well-known of such events, there is also a proliferation of smaller and more local projects suggesting scope for reflection on the role of academic researchers in this evolving space. We deploy an experimental methodology that blends personal reflections with group discussion amongst the authors to help unpack the lessons learned from a project led by the local council, where we facilitated the involvement of local people in decision-making around climate action. Reflecting on our individual and academic positionalities, we question the extent to which we are well placed to build, maintain, and sustain trust, which requires spending time in place, continuity, and ceding power. As “outsiders” with “elite connotations,” our role as actors in this space is open for discussion. Indeed, our involvement could be perceived as a missed opportunity to retain more money and knowledge locally by ceding more responsibility to grassroots organisations. Our experience also suggests that framing public participation in terms of design and facilitation deficit is somewhat misleading. It is not just a process that needs to be attuned to diverse communities, but an ongoing relationship that needs certain enabling conditions to flourish, including conducive funding frameworks and a willingness to address incumbent power differentials between state and non-state actors.

The rise in global sea levels poses a substantial, sometimes existential threat to coastal cities around the world, such as Bangkok, Lagos, or Jakarta. Adaptation projects range from hard infrastructure to nature-based solutions or ‘planned retreat’, often having severe implications in terms of equity and equality. Given the threat of urban flooding and submergence, this paper asks how ‘the future’ for these cities is imagined, and how sociotechnical imaginaries of climate futures inform policymaking. Using insights from poststructuralism and Science and Technology Studies (STS), I argue that the way of ‘seeing’ and ‘knowing’ sea level rise is constitutive of the rationalities that undergird the governing of rising water around the world. I trace the discrete operations of the discursive formations and imaginaries that have evolved globally around the issue of sea level rise, with their own distinctive logics. Analyzing a variety of globally circulating policy documents and local adaptation projects, I show how the governance of sea level rise is based on a very specific ‘expert’ knowledge that allows re-designing sinking cities ‘from above’. This kind of knowledge, provided by a depoliticizing global network of consultants, designers, and development banks, privileges imaginaries of modernity and control using technology and engineering, as well as ideas on how populations in flood-prone areas are expected to govern themselves in the advent of rising sea levels. These imaginaries tend to marginalize alternative local adaptation practices, lead to unintended outcomes, and often discriminate against those who are already vulnerable to climate change impacts.

Current post-carbon transition trajectories are primarily focused on external solutions, while citizens' inner lives and roles in collective transformation and system change processes are largely overlooked. To address this gap, this study aims to explore the potential role of citizens as active agents of change. Specifically, it examines how citizens perceive and address climate change, the factors that can empower and motivate them to act, and how they imagine future transformation pathways and their own role within them. Based on a combined SenseMaker and Grounded Theory methodology, we explore citizens' perspectives and discuss their implications for improving current approaches and discourses, such as lifestyle environmentalism and post-growth. Our findings provide important insights into the interplay between people's motivation, sense of agency, and social paradigms, with direct implications for policy and practice. They show that the materialistic growth paradigm under which most people act does not support motivation and engagement in sustainability transformations. Secondly, although intrinsic motivation, along with values such as care and community, increase engagement and transformation, they are seldom reflected in current policy approaches and discourses. Thirdly, a sense of agency is key for lasting individual and collective engagement. Put together, the results indicate that empowering individual and collective agency requires challenging current societal and systemic values that lie at the root of today's crises. Supporting conditions that allow the emergence of new social paradigms through targeted actions at individual, collective, and system levels is thus crucial to tackling climate change and meeting policy targets [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is intended to understand the governance practices addressed in the literature to address climate change, identifying common variables, methods, regions, and sources of information that facilitate the framing of novel analyses for researchers and practitioners. We perform a systematic review of 45 studies between 1980 and 2019 published in Web of Science. The results suggest that policy, innovation, operations, and legitimacy are common variables in addressing climate change. Our findings show that Ordinary Least Squares and Panel Data are the most frequent methods developed in the literature. Emerging economies such as India, Brazil, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, and Mexico offer an interesting context to explore. The climate crisis has become one of the major threats to modern society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the recognition of Indigenous Peoples' contributions to climate governance by the international community has gradually increased, a rights-based approach in national climate action is still largely absent. This article analyses the recognition of Indigenous Peoples' rights in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. We conducted a content analysis of all NDCs submitted between 2016 and May 2022. Through a five-pronged framework of sustainable self-determination, we assessed how the NDCs recognise: i. Indigenous Peoples as rights-holders; ii. Indigenous jurisdiction over land; iii. Indigenous knowledge systems; iv. Indigenous Peoples' right to full and effective participation in climate governance; and v. the legacy of colonialism. NDCs with references related to Indigenous Peoples are increasing. However, questions remain regarding their sincerity and commitment to implementation. States must therefore make more significant efforts to ensure that the NDCs take a rights-based approach and contribute to strengthening Indigenous Peoples' role and say in climate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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On 9 April the European Court of Human Rights issued its first ever comprehensive decision in a climate litigation case. The ECtHR has set out clear directions for member states to follow to align their climate policies with human rights obligations. Domestic legislators across Europe must give these requirements serious consideration to ensure their climate laws not only meet these minimum standards but also effectively contribute to global climate goals. This is imperative for both environmental sustainability and the protection of fundamental human rights that climate change is affecting.

Following lengthy negotiations within Germany’s coalition government, on 26 April 2024, the Bundestag passed an amendment to the Federal Climate Protection Act. One part of the amendment in particular has drawn sharp criticism from environmental NGOs, experts, and commentators: the abolition of annual, sector-based targets for greenhouse gas emissions reduction, which form the basis of the obligation for ministries to submit ‘immediate action programmes’ (Sofortprogramme). We argue that many critics overestimated the effectiveness of the Sofortprogramm mechanism, as enshrined in the original version of the KSG, in enforcing Germany's ambitious climate targets. Instead, we must realistically assess the potential, and limits, of institutional design to deliver ambitious climate policy.

Mass renovation goals aimed at energy savings on a national scale require a significant level of public financial commitment. To identify target buildings, decision-makers need a thorough understanding of energy performance. Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) provide information about areas of space, such as land plots or a building’s footprint, without specifying exact locations. They cover only a fraction of dwellings. This paper demonstrates that learning from observed EPCs to predict missing ones at the building level can be viewed as a spatial interpolation problem with uncertainty both on input and output variables. The Kriging methodology is applied to random fields observed at random locations to determine the Best Linear Unbiased Predictor (BLUP). Although the Gaussian setting is lost, conditional moments can still be derived. Covariates are admissible, even with missing observations. We present applications using both simulated and real data, with a specific case study of a city in France serving as an example.

This contribution addresses the federal architecture of Belgium to understand its core functioning elements with regard to the country’s climate change governance. For several historic, cultural and political reasons, Belgium bears a heavily decentralised institutional and organisational setup, which, however, provides for several drawbacks when addressing face-offs and cross-cutting policy issues such as climate change. The compartmentalised allocation of powers and the intergovernmental conflicts arising as a result of diverging political stances at different levels of government towards climate action have led to several policy failures. This paper will thus first outline the complex governance structure of the Belgian federal state. While doing so, it will also underscore key formal and informal features underpinning policymaking in Belgium, which are of utmost relevance for climate policy. Next, it will chart such governance structure within the specific context of climate action in Belgium. Last, it will display some examples of climate policy failures to unfold how different tenets of the Belgian system interplay with climate change planning and policy implementation. Notably, Belgium displays an example of how decentralisation could be put at odds with the effective development and implementation of climate policy.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is well positioned to help advance the United States' clean energy transition through their management of energy projects. One obstacle to achieving the transition is meaningful consultation with Tribal Nations. Following decades of conflict between tribes and FERC regarding infrastructure development, the agency issued a "policy statement on consultation with Indian tribes" in 2003. The Policy acknowledges FERC's trust responsibility to tribes and seeks to work on a "government to government" basis with them, and recent amendments explicitly incorporate treaty rights into FERC's decision-making processes. Despite these interventions, tensions between FERC and tribes continue over the persistent lack of consultation and omission of government-to-government discussions regarding proposed hydropower. In this article, we question the application of FERC's decision-making powers as they intersect with tribal sovereignty via a discourse analysis of 'consultation.' The article applies an ethnographic perspective to explore the 'political' in political ecology and assess FERC's role in licensing the Big Canyon project, a proposed closed-looped pump hydropower project in Navajo Nation in Arizona. The project was proposed in 2020 without adequate consultation with the affected Diné peoples, illuminating significant gaps between FERC's stated policy on consultation and its operationalization. Compounding the situation further, the Big Canyon project would exacerbate human-water relationships by diminishing groundwaters in an area already facing aridification, thereby challenging the health of springs that feed the Little Colorado River, provide habitat for protected species, and are sacred to many Indigenous peoples. Studying the intersection of tribal rights and FERC presents a critical juncture for assessing the underlying power dynamics of decision-making processes regarding pumped storage hydropower in the United States, within the broad context of a clean energy transition.

Incorrect indicators and starting years for emission cumulation can lead to confusion regarding the concepts of climate equity and climate responsibility. This article examines the variations in the results obtained by using different indicators and starting years to calculate climate equity and climate responsibilities among country parties and country groups of the UNFCCC. The article utilizes historical greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data from 193 countries spanning the period 1850 to 2021. The data is aggregated from various sources including EDGAR, Climate Watch, and Global Carbon Budget (GCB). The article calculates cumulative GHG emissions and cumulative GHG emissions per capita, with starting years 1850, 1970, and 1990. By highlighting differences in various indicators, the article aims to provide a better understanding of climate responsibilities, climate beneficiaries, and climate equity. The results demonstrate that cumulative emissions and cumulative emissions per capita are scientific indicators that reveal a country’s level of climate responsibility and climate equity. Negotiators can achieve consensus more easily in the complex system if they have a comprehensive and scientific understanding of climate equity. It is suggested that country groups under the UNFCCC use scientific indicators and methodologies to reveal climate responsibilities and climate equity.

Abstract Non-technical Summary China formally pledged to peak its carbon emissions within 10 years and achieve carbon neutrality within 30 years thereafter. Considering the numerous challenges and difficulties ahead, it is essential for China to strengthen the building of climate governance systems toward carbon neutrality. This paper examines the interactions between elements of China's climate governance system, and develops a theoretical framework for China's climate governance toward carbon neutrality, with a view to providing more comprehensive information for decision-making. Technical Summary China's high ambitions to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 make climate governance an urgent issue. Against this background, this paper develops a TAM (‘Target, Actor, Mechanism’) theoretical framework for China's climate governance toward carbon neutrality, intending to provide information for decision-making. This framework, centering on governance actors, is based on two key assumptions: First, the stance of each actor toward a climate action depends on the impact of this action on the actor's objectives and the weight of these objectives to this actor; Second, the most feasible governance mechanism is the solution that can best satisfy actors' objective with the greatest decision-making influence. Applying this framework in case studies involves three major steps: (1) Identifying China's climate governance actions according to transition pathways toward carbon neutrality; (2) Assessing the effects of climate actions on the objective of relevant actors; (3) Obtaining feasible governance mechanisms based on historical institutionalism analysis. By linking different climate governance research methodologies, this theoretical framework can provide decision-makers with more comprehensive information on climate governance. Social media summary Integrating quantitative models with institutionalism can bridge the gap between policy formulation and implementation.

Social inclusion in climate governance is related to social justice and inclusive climate justice explicitly aims to open up climate policy and politics to a broader range of actors and voices, especially those most exposed to climate‐related injustice. This article employs qualitative research methods to comprehensively examine the issue of social inclusion in the context of local government‐led climate governance in J County, Zhejiang province, China. The study finds that the climate governance in J County demonstrates a certain degree of social inclusion in terms of participation by local farmers and benefit distribution. However, this social inclusion has a hidden fragility: It is limited and unstable. The limited social inclusion is manifested in the fact that, throughout the entire process, bamboo farmers were unable to participate due to their lack of a comprehensive understanding of the climate governance action plan, and the distribution of climate governance benefits is characterised by a lack of transparency in the design process and uncertainty regarding potential benefits. The unstable social inclusion is manifested in the great differences in the environmental governance actions of J County in different periods, especially regarding public participation and benefit distribution. Fundamentally, this is mainly due to the significant influence of China’s unique top‐down performance evaluation system on local government‐led climate governance actions in J County. Social inclusion in local government‐led environmental governance may again be marginalised if the top‐down performance evaluation indicators faced by local governments change in the future.

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) – the creation, enhancement, and upscaling of carbon sinks – has become a pillar of national and corporate commitments towards Net Zero emissions, as well as pathways towards realizing the Paris Agreement's ambitious temperature targets. In this perspective, we explore CDR as an emerging issue of Earth System Governance (ESG). We draw on the results of a workshop at the 2022 Earth System Governance conference that mapped a range of actors, activities, and issues relevant to carbon removal, and refined them into research questions spanning four intersecting areas: modeling and systems assessment, societal appraisal, policy, and innovation and industry. We filter these questions through the five lenses of the ESG framework and highlight several key ‘cross-cutting’ issues that could form the basis of an integrated ESG research agenda on CDR.

This study defines Provincial Carbon Emission Characteristics (PCEC) as the socioeconomic conditions influencing provincial carbon emissions, the potential for carbon neutrality, and carbon management strategies. Given China’s commitment to peak carbon emissions and to achieve carbon neutrality, the development of a robust and versatile PCEC evaluation system is imperative. However, previous studies that rely on single-objective evaluation models are limited. To address this gap, we propose a multi-objective PCEC evaluation system using a novel three-layer approach. This approach enhances the scientific rigor, comprehensiveness, and comparability of PCEC evaluation indicators (PCEC-EIs) by segregating the extraction process into three layers: (1) a factor layer, which identifies critical socioeconomic conditions; (2) a quantitative layer, which selects optimal quantitative indicators for each identified condition; and (3) a standardized layer, which standardizes these indicators, thereby improving their comparability. By applying hierarchical cluster analysis, our study classified 30 Chinese provinces into 7 distinct clusters, each with unique carbon emission characteristics. Further investigation of these clusters across various climate governance issues revealed the versatility of our multi-objective PCEC evaluation system. Our system supports the identification of provinces qualified to reach the emission peak earlier than 2030, differentiation of carbon intensity reduction efforts during the carbon peaking stage, and exploration of various emission reduction pathways to achieve carbon neutrality. Hence, our findings can guide the creation of bespoke emission-reduction strategies for each province; thus, aiding China’s national ambition to achieve peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. Importantly, our three-layered approach has broader implications beyond China, potentially assisting other regions or countries in grappling with similar climate-mitigation challenges.

Green AI (Artificial Intelligence) and digitalization facilitate the "Dual-Carbon" goal of low-carbon, high-quality economic development. Green AI is moving from "cloud" to "edge" devices like TinyML, which supports devices from cameras to wearables, offering low-power IoT computing. This study attempts to provide a conceptual update of climate and environmental policy in open synergy with proprietary and open-source TinyML technology, and to provide an industry collaborative and policy perspective on the issue, through using differential game models. The results show that patent and open source, as two types of TinyML innovation, can benefit a wide range of low-carbon industries and climate policy coordination. From the case of TinyML, we find that collaboration and sharing can lead to the implementation of green AI, reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions, and helping to fight climate change and protect the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of the initiatives that companies are promoting to curb climate change and the impacts resulting from these activities require the disclosure of relevant information that can be used by stakeholders in their decision‐making processes. The objective of this work is to complement previous studies by analysing the effect and type of relationship that exists between internal and market corporate governance mechanisms. We theoretically argue that business transparency related to climate change is explained both by climate governance and by the coverage of the company by financial analysts and that there may be both a complementary and substitutive relationship between the two mechanisms. The results obtained on a global climate governance score show the existence of a substitutive relationship, but the individualised consideration of the components of this score suggests a potential divergent relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current post-carbon transition trajectories are primarily focused on external solutions, while citizens’ inner lives and roles in collective transformation and system change processes are largely overlooked. To address this gap, this study aims to explore the potential role of citizens as active agents of change. Specifically, it examines how citizens perceive and address climate change, the factors that can empower and motivate them to act, and how they imagine future transformation pathways and their own role within them. Based on a combined SenseMaker and Grounded Theory methodology, we explore citizens’ perspectives and discuss their implications for improving current approaches and discourses, such as lifestyle environmentalism and post-growth. Our findings provide important insights into the interplay between people’s motivation, sense of agency, and social paradigms, with direct implications for policy and practice. They show that the materialistic growth paradigm under which most people act does not support motivation and engagement in sustainability transformations. Secondly, although intrinsic motivation, along with values such as care and community, increase engagement and transformation, they are seldom reflected in current policy approaches and discourses. Thirdly, a sense of agency is key for lasting individual and collective engagement. Put together, the results indicate that empowering individual and collective agency requires challenging current societal and systemic values that lie at the root of today’s crises. Supporting conditions that allow the emergence of new social paradigms through targeted actions at individual, collective, and system levels is thus crucial to tackling climate change and meeting policy targets.

This contribution addresses the federal architecture of Belgium to understand its core functioning elements with regard to the country's climate change governance. For several historic, cultural and political reasons, Belgium bears a heavily decentralised institutional and organisational setup, which, however, provides for several drawbacks when addressing face-offs and cross-cutting policy issues such as climate change. The compartmentalised allocation of powers and the intergovernmental conflicts arising as a result of diverging political stances at different levels of government towards climate action have led to several policy failures. This paper will thus first outline the complex governance structure of the Belgian federal state. While doing so, it will also underscore key formal and informal features underpinning policymaking in Belgium, which are of utmost relevance for climate policy. Next, it will chart such governance structure within the specific context of climate action in Belgium. Last, it will display some examples of climate policy failures to unfold how different tenets of the Belgian system interplay with climate change planning and policy implementation. Notably, Belgium displays an example of how decentralisation could be put at odds with the effective development and implementation of climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is broad scientific consensus about the climate emergency. Governments have intensified mitigation and adaptation actions by conducting climate finance through national climate funds. In 2009, the National Fund on Climate Change (FNMC) was established in Brazil. Analyzes on climate finance have intensified after 2020, and there are few empirical studies on these funds. This article contributes to this gap by analyzing the institutional effectiveness of the FNMC through desk research in the period from 2009 to 2020, considering 21 indicators distributed in five dimensions. This study identifies the main challenges to the FNMC's institutional effectiveness, recognizing its importance in helping Brazil meet its commitment to international climate goals by reducing greenhouse gases (GHG), strengthening research, and increasing investments in climate change projects. The results reveal great fragility in the FNMC's institutional effectiveness. None of the five dimensions analyzed had all indicators satisfied, and resource mobilization and sustainability were identified as the main challenges to the FNMC's institutional effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of nature-based solutions (NbS) has been endorsed by multiple international organizations as one of the priority approaches to address climate-related challenges. These solutions are versatile, and can simultaneously address challenges such as climate impacts, public health, inequality, and the biodiversity crisis, being uniquely suited for urban adaptation. NbS are particularly relevant in the developing world, where strategies should be as self-reliant as possible, reducing the need for technological processes that require expensive and complex maintenance. NbS can also promote political, societal, cultural, and ultimately, systems change. The purpose of this paper is to present a literature review on the use of NbS for urban adaptation, identifying the main opportunities, challenges, and, most specifically, knowledge gaps, which can be addressed in subsequent research. The present paper identifies four types of knowledge gaps that are particularly relevant for the use of NbS for urban adaptation: future climate uncertainty, lack of site-specific technical design criteria, governance strategies, and effectiveness assessment evaluation. To overcome local governments' limitations, specific implementation strategies and structures should be considered, centered on knowledge transfer within a transdisciplinary and participatory framework. These should be developed in partnership with urban planning entities, seeking to consolidate these approaches in policies that support social resilience and institutional capacity. Therefore, urban adaptation should be initiated with pilot projects to simultaneously address the urgency for implementation, while allowing urban planning practices the time to adjust, building capacity at the local level, and filling knowledge gaps through the assessment of effectiveness. The climate-resilience of urban tree species adequate to the future climate was identified as a relevant knowledge gap for the implementation of NbS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide, companies are increasingly making claims about their current climate efforts and their future mitigation commitments. These claims tend to be underpinned by carbon credits issued in voluntary carbon markets to offset emissions. Corporate climate claims are largely unregulated which means that they are often (perceived to be) misleading and deceptive. As such, corporate climate claims risk undermining, rather than contributing to, global climate mitigation. This paper takes as its point of departure the proposition that a better understanding of corporate climate claims is needed to govern such claims in a manner that adequately addresses potential greenwashing risks. To that end, the paper reviews the nascent literature on corporate climate claims relying on the use of voluntary carbon credits. Drawing on the reviewed literature, three key dimensions of corporate climate claims as related to carbon credits are discussed: 1) the intended use of carbon credits: offsetting versus non‐offsetting claims; 2) the framing and meaning of headline terms: net‐zero versus carbon neutral claims; and 3) the status of the claim: future aspirational commitments versus stated achievements. The paper thereby offers a preliminary categorization of corporate climate claims and discusses risks associated with and governance implications for each of these categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to climate change, the current war in Ukraine has highlighted the urgency of a rapid transformation to post-fossility. This paper analyses the much-lamented negative climate policy and energy transition impacts of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) in international law, a treaty that serves as a basis for the compensation claims of fossil fuel companies in response to losses incurred because of climate policy measures. Methodologically, a legal interpretation is conducted, i.e., the ECT is interpreted grammatically and systematically. It is shown that, with a revised legal interpretation of the ECT, such claims usually cannot be upheld at all, except in the case of direct expropriations. This is further underlined by a legal interpretation of the ECT based on the Paris Agreement and on international human rights law. The arbitral ECT tribunals would therefore have to dismiss claims and if they do not do so then, for example, EU member states could take action against such verdicts of the arbitral tribunals before the ECJ. Even if all of this was to be disputed, there are also considerable possibilities for the contracting states to subsequently exclude claims for compensation. Nevertheless, there are a lot of arguments in favour of a comprehensive reform of the treaty. However, to do so as currently planned, with transitional periods, is not sufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Worldwide, companies are increasingly making claims about their current climate efforts and their future mitigation commitments. These claims tend to be underpinned by carbon credits issued in voluntary carbon markets to offset emissions. Corporate climate claims are largely unregulated which means that they are often (perceived to be) misleading and deceptive. As such, corporate climate claims risk undermining, rather than contributing to, global climate mitigation. This paper takes as its point of departure the proposition that a better understanding of corporate climate claims is needed to govern such claims in a manner that adequately addresses potential greenwashing risks. To that end, the paper reviews the nascent literature on corporate climate claims relying on the use of voluntary carbon credits. Drawing on the reviewed literature, three key dimensions of corporate climate claims as related to carbon credits are discussed: 1) the intended use of carbon credits: offsetting versus non‐offsetting claims; 2) the framing and meaning of headline terms: net‐zero versus carbon neutral claims; and 3) the status of the claim: future aspirational commitments versus stated achievements. The paper thereby offers a preliminary categorization of corporate climate claims and discusses risks associated with and governance implications for each of these categories.

There is now widespread recognition that the dominant approaches to addressing the climate crisis to date have been insufficient. One reason for this is their failure to account for the influential role played by inner dimensions such as worldviews, values and beliefs in shaping how we understand and respond to this urgent issue. This paper explores how worldviews are both an insufficiently understood factor and an under-utilised tool that could enable more transformative governance responses to climate change. It introduces the concept of developmentally-based worldviews, focusing on the five worldviews most prevalent amongst leaders and managers today and how climate change is understood and approached by each. Applying a worldviews perspective to the global climate governance arena, the paper shows how operating from Conformist, Expert and Achiever worldviews can result in less capacity to respond to change and uncertainty, engage in reflective learning and be open to multiple perspectives - all aspects regarded as important for achieving transformative action - than operating from Pluralist and Strategist worldviews,. Tools such as mindfulness training and developmentally-informed leadership education are likely to be helpful in further developing the capacity of individuals and organisations to engage in truly transformative climate governance.

This case report is a reflective narrative, documenting the methods used to develop a policy framework for a National Strategy on Climate, Health and Well-being for Australia. The report aims to guide advocates, communities of practice, and governments in developing a comprehensive policy response to climate change and its health impacts.

This paper describes the macro-regional governance framework behind the climate adaptation policies that are currently in place in the Alpine area. Through this discussion, it specifically considers the implications of the regional governance of South Tyrol and Lombardy as case studies. Despite rising concern at the European level, there are still no specific guidelines in place for climate change governance at the macro-regional level. Macro-regions encompass multiple regions that have certain shared morphological characteristics. To address climate changes that occur here, they adopt optional larger-scale strategies without adequately considering territorial and governmental specificities at the regional level. Each individual region adopts specific climate adaptation strategies to deal with the challenges of the territories they govern, without considering the effects on their neighbours, decentralises climate policies to the lowest tiers of government, and encourages participation from individuals and non-governmental organisations. The Alpine macro-region is governed by three separate international/transnational institutions at the macro-regional level and is subject to different regulations from each of the 48 regions/autonomous provinces. One of these regions is Lombardy, which is particularly exposed to the effects of climate change due to having the highest values for land consumption and pollution in Italy. From the administrative point of view, it is an ordinary region, which means that it has the same legislative competences of the other Italian regions. South Tyrol is entirely mountainous. Being an autonomous province, it benefits from greater legislative autonomy than ordinary regions. Based on documental analysis of climate adaptation strategies, findings demonstrate that the preferred governance structure involves the presence of a coordinating institution (such as the province in South Tyrol or the region in Lombardy) that decides climate action, along with several other local institutions and stakeholders that have less decision-making power. Its preferred mechanism for addressing specific climate challenges is the definition of specific regulations and the draft of regional and mono-sectoral plans. These regulations do not relate strongly to wider-scale strategies at the macro-regional level, but are inspired by their principles and priorities. At both definition and implementation levels, the participation of local organisations is limited and not incentivised. Administratively, South Tyrol enjoys greater autonomy, whereas Lombardy must comply more closely with state regulations that limit its decision-making freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Inspired by the forceful emergence of youth activism around climate change in 2019 and the body of scholarship on youth political involvement, we evaluate youths' claims to being political in the international climate governance process. To do this, we survey documentation of youth activity around the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), so we can gauge the extent of youth participation. We produce analyses of four sets of records: mainstream newspapers, UNFCCC programming, independent media outlets and youth NGO websites. We find that, while youth are participating more, existing forms of documentation are inadequate. We suggest that genre writing can capture lost voices in politics, and that standard documentation remains critically important to recording youth political participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative emissions technologies (NETs) approaches are an essential part of virtually any scenario in which global warming is limited to 1.5 °C in accordance with the Paris Agreement. Discussions often focus on two technologies due to their substantial carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration potential: bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS). However, the large-scale deployment of both technologies—especially BECCS—may lead to significant human rights infringements. This paper aims to analyze the impact of both technologies on human rights from the methodological perspective of a legal interpretation of international law. It shows that a large-scale BECCS strategy, which inevitably requires enormous land-use changes, will most likely infringe upon the right to food, the right to water, and the right to a healthy environment. In contrast, large-scale DACCS approaches will likely have a smaller human rights impact, but the energy-intensive process could also infringe upon the right to energy. Balancing these human rights with other freedom rights, e.g., of consumers and enterprises, the paper will further demonstrate that from the perspective of human rights, rapid emission reductions and the minimization of livestock farming—and also less risky nature-based options such as peatland and forest management—should prevail before any large-scale industrial NET strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon neutrality has increasingly become a crucial agenda within global climate governance. Meanwhile, recent observations show that the governance architecture for carbon neutrality is transforming to polycentricity. However, there is still a lack of systematic investigation on carbon neutrality governance under the polycentric approach. Against this background, this study attempts to investigate the emergence and structure of polycentric climate governance, and to figure out to what extent the evolving polycentric system can contribute to the climate change governance towards carbon neutrality. The results show that efforts made by actors at transnational and subnational levels within the polycentric system can greatly complement the deficits of carbon neutrality governance by international regime and state government in many different domains. Besides, the identified issues, that are critical to carbon neutrality including climate legislation, adaptation, technology deployment and data authenticity and transparency, can be addressed in a more effective way through the coordination among multiple actors at multiple levels. Finally, further research should be conducted to address the dynamic linkages between international regimes as well as the issues related to small and medium-sized cities, and develop a comprehensive evaluation and accounting system for the risks and benefits of polycentric climate governance.

Climate change presents a pervasive global threat to billions of people as well as ecosystems. Global mitigation policy failures mean we must now urgently adapt to projected climate impacts. While local government is expected to play a vital role in climate change adaptation, major breakdowns are occurring in local governments' ability to implement adaptation responses. Studies point to the importance of two key factors underpinning successful municipal climate change adaptation – supportive leadership and an authorising environment for adaptation. But few studies provide in-depth analysis of these factors and how they play out in practice. This paper reports the results of research addressing this knowledge gap, drawing on analysis of leadership in four Australian local governments (municipal councils). Twenty-five local government elected officials, executive leaders, and staff required to operationalise leaders' decisions were interviewed. Interviews examined leaders' role and influence in climate change adaptation and their receptiveness to mainstreaming. Results show that whether leaders consider climate risk on their policy agenda is highly variable and subject to factors such as: public mood and community expectations; issue salience; the presence of dedicated policy entrepreneurs to champion a response; and focusing events that heighten the urgency of adaptation. We identify three concrete opportunities to mainstream municipal climate adaptation responses: enhance issue salience within leaders; leverage networks of influence; and strengthen formal systems of municipal climate governance. • Municipal leaders recognise diverse risks arising from a changing climate. • Adaptation is often considered discretionary on the municipal policy agenda. • How adaptation is described and justified affects issue prioritisation by leaders. • Leaders' networks of influence can be leveraged to support climate mainstreaming. • Mainstreaming must engage with leaders' mindsets and receptiveness to adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has profoundly affected human production and development, and also brought new challenges to China's goal of achieving inclusive economic growth. Using the data of 273 cities in China from 2001 to 2019, this research evaluates the impact of climate change on urban inclusive economic growth by constructing a temperature bin variable according to the daily average temperature. It is found that with the temperature bin [18 °C, 21 °C) as the benchmark group, both temperature rise and fall have a negative influence on inclusive economic growth. Notably, the adverse effects of high temperatures (above 27 °C) are statistically and economically significant, exhibiting a trend of increasing magnitude. The mechanism test shows that high temperature affects the inclusive growth level of the urban economy mainly by exacerbating the urban‒rural income gap. The heterogeneity analysis found that cities located in hot regions, southern regions or coastal areas are more sensitive to high temperatures and experience more prominent effects. This research holds significant practical implications for China to achieve a win‒win situation of balanced economic development and climate governance. • The impact of climate change on inclusive economic growth in Chinese cities is investigated. • Using [18 °C, 21 °C) as benchmark group, both increases and decreases in temperature hinder inclusive economic growth. • High temperatures (above 27 °C) have significant adverse effects, showing a trend of increasing severity. • This mechanism primarily exacerbates the urban-rural income gap. • The negative impact is more pronounced in cities in warmer, southern, or coastal regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While climate change is often understood as a collective action and a market problem, we look at it as a problem of planning and coordination. Long-term planning is necessary to promote structural change, which will be required to keep the Paris Agreement's temperature goals. By encouraging states to develop a long-term climate strategy, the Paris Agreement invites countries to turn anticipatory governance into an international governance instrument. In this paper we explore how these strategies describe countries' climate plans and what the perceptions of government officials are about the potential for realization of these strategies. Using mixed methods, we explore both 1) planning dimensions (actions, actors and policies described in the strategies) by applying a topic modeling analysis to 50 documents; and 2) perceptions of the content and challenges to their realization among domestic policy professionals of four major emitters. Our results show that the strategies lack a detailed discussion on how decarbonization pathways could be materialized and who has the responsibility for implementation of long-term targets. Moreover, rather than being a steering instrument, the strategies are dominated by scenario planning and there is also a lack of attention to political issues. Taken together, we contend that strategies are limited in the way they present the future possibilities of low emissions development. To make them more effective in steering long-term decarbonization, greater attention needs to be placed on potential conflicts, barriers and stumbling blocks that may arise along the way. • Long-term climate planning has potential to shift the way we address climate change. • The language used in the strategies are dominated by technical terms and GHG emissions scenarios. • The strategies tend to reduce the political and social complexities of climate change. • As governance instruments, the strategies lack capacity to guide implementation and guidance on how to solve goal conflicts. • The strategies' main value is to provide a platform for alternative discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beijing is making systematic efforts to accelerate its energy transition by setting ambitious targets, developing and employing clean technology, and stepping up global cooperation. This embrace of green and low-carbon development comes at a time when Beijing has arrived at a crossroads where it must choose a more sustainable development model that lays equal emphasis on resilience and efficiency. Even though China’s past concrete actions have paved the way for a smoother transition, more robust measures, not least concerted efforts by major countries, are still required to secure more irreversible progress as the current Russia–Ukraine crisis and potential fallout may create new roadblocks for the global race to zero carbon emissions. Rising geopolitical tensions as a result of the return of great power competition make it more urgent for leading countries to increase policy coordination to avert climate calamity.

Climate change has become a critical issue in security policy and military organizations are ever more involved in handling it. Yet, little is known about how armed forces, which often possess substantial resources, are hierarchically structured and have the capacity to exercise force, actually account for climate change and its relationship to security. This article addresses the research gap by analyzing how the Swedish Armed Forces approach climate change and related security issues. The article adopts a qualitative case study research design and an analytical framework for examining climate security discourses, and finds that climate change has become institutionalized in the Swedish Armed Forces. The Swedish Armed Forces conceptualizes climate change in terms of risks and vulnerabilities, and expects the phenomenon to become increasingly critical to its activities. Data for the analysis consist of official documents, publications and public statements by senior officials in the Swedish Armed Forces.

The importance of science for climate governance has strengthened over time and the topic inspires prolific academic writing on the influence of scientists and scientific knowledge on policy decisions. One of the streams of research in the field is inspired by Cash´s (2003) seminal work highlighting how the role of scientists depends on perceptions of salience, credibility and legitimacy. Other views call for attention to the politics involved in scientific performance while influencing policy and on the local circumstances, considering the many ways in which societies relate to science and expertise. The role of scientists in climate governance is a contested issue, relevant for many research centres aiming to influence policy decisions given the urgency of the climate crisis. To better understand this role, we reviewed mainstream international literature and identified four main approaches, which we label: scientific usable knowledge, politics of science, critical approaches and hybrid approaches. We contrasted the results with the experience of scientists from a Chilean climate research centre, to provide a view from the South on the role of scientists in climate governance. Our results show that Cash´s approach was a common ground for Chilean climate scientists, upon which they build ideas on the importance of building long-term relationships between scientists and policy makers. However, they also acknowledged the need to take into consideration the role of politics in climate-related decisions and the power relations and actor´s interests. • Literature review on the role of scientists in climate governance. • Applicability of mainstream approaches to the experiences of climate scientists in Chile. • Usability of science is a basic common ground. • Asymmetries of power and long term relationships should be considered to take an active role and inform policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]