Climate change and the transition to neoliberal environmental governance |
| |
Affiliation: | 1. University of Colorado Boulder, 397 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309, USA;2. Brown University, IBES, Brown University, Box 1951, 85 Waterman Street, Providence, RI 02912, USA;1. Grupo de Ecología del Paisaje y Modelación de Ecosistemas ECOLMOD, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogotá, Colombia;2. CREAF-Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications, 08193 Cerdanyola del Valles, Barcelona,Spain;3. Unitat d''Ecología, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Valles, Barcelona, Spain;1. CICERO Center for International Climate Research, Pb. 1129 Blindern, 0318 Oslo, Norway;2. Fridtjof Nansen Institute, P.O. Box 326, 1326 Lysaker, Norway;1. The National Socio-environmental Synthesis Center, 1 Park Place Suite 300, Annapolis, MD 21401;2. UNC Department of Geography, 308 Carolina Hall, CB #3220, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3220, United States;3. International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, GPO Box 128, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh;4. UNC Department of Geography, 205 Carolina Hall, CB #3220, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3220, United States;1. UCD School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland;2. UCD Earth Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland |
| |
Abstract: | What are the guiding principles of contemporary international governance of climate change and to what extent do they represent neoliberal forms? We document five main political and institutional shifts within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and outline core governance practices for each phase. In discussing the current phase since the Paris Agreement, we offer to the emerging literature on international neoliberal environmental governance an analytical framework by which the extent of international neoliberal governance can be assessed. We conceptualize international neoliberal environmentalism as characterized by four main processes: the prominence of libertarian ideals of justice, in which justice is defined as the rational pursuit of sovereign self-interest between unequal parties; marketization, in which market mechanisms, private sector engagement and purportedly ‘objective’ considerations are viewed as the most effective and efficient forms of governance; governance by disclosure, in which the primary obstacles to sustainability are understood as ‘imperfect information’ and onerous regulatory structures that inhibit innovation; and exclusivity, in which multilateral decision-making is shifted from consensus to minilateralism. Against this framework, we argue that the contemporary UNFCCC regime has institutionalized neoliberal reforms in climate governance, although not without resistance, in a configuration which is starkly different than that of earlier eras. We conclude by describing four crucial gaps left by this transition, which include the ability of the regime to drive adequate ambition, and gaps in transparency, equity and representation. |
| |
Keywords: | Climate change Neoliberal environmental governance United nations framework convention on climate change Inequality Climate justice |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|