Workshop on ‘Governing the Global Climate Regime: Issues of Institutional Integrity and Justice’

Griffith University’s Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law (IEGL) will be holding a two-­day workshop on ‘Governing the Global Climate Regime: Issues of Institutional Integrity and Justice’ in collaboration with the Asser Institute and the Amsterdam Centre for International Law.

This workshop will look at the institutional architecture of the global climate regime (conventions, protocols, institutions, mechanisms), the governance quality of those elements and the way they interact. It will consider the degree to which they contribute to an effective global climate integrity system—i.e. an inter-­related set of institutions, governance arrangements, regulations, norms and practices that aim to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and contribute to climate. I draft ‘map’ of the regime is also attached. The workshop will identify gaps, weaknesses and areas of conflicts or non-­collaboration in the system. The aim is to provide new insights into the understanding of how systemic institutional and governance failures have occurred, could occur again in the same or different form, and how these failures impact on other sustainable development initiatives. Attendees at the workshop are encouraged to consider how such failures might be prevented in the future – in particular in the next ‘commitment period’ of the climate regime that will emerge from COP 21 in Paris.

The thematic questions to be examined in the workshop are:

• How meaningful is the participation of both state and non-­state actors within the various institutional structures of the climate regime, and how productive are the deliberations under the various negotiating processes?
• To what extent will the new institutional arrangements deliver climate justice – and how might issues of justice be addressed within those arrangements?
• How effective are the existing mechanisms – including the European and other carbon trading systems, offsets, mandated renewables targets, REDD+?
• What implementation challenges have hindered the Kyoto regime? Are the governance challenges in the post-­Paris regime likely to be similar?
• How is ‘good’ governance’ currently reflected within the UNFCCC through considerations of interest?
• What is the relationship between governance and integrity in the global climate regime?
• What lessons can be learned about climate governance from other international regimes (such as human rights) or from national governance initiatives – and vice versa?
• How can ‘good’ governance arrangements be encapsulated within the post-­‐2020 climate instrument?

This event is on invitation only. 

For more information please send an e-mail to conferencemanager@asser.nl