TY - JOUR A1 - Hickmann, Thomas T1 - Voluntary global business initiatives and the international climate negotiations BT - a case study of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol JF - Journal of Cleaner Production N2 - The past few years have witnessed the emergence of a plethora of transnational climate governance experiments. They have been developed by a broad range of actors, such as cities, non-profit organizations, and private corporations. Several scholars have lately devoted particular attention to voluntary global business initiatives in the policy domain of climate change. Their studies have provided considerable insights into the role and function of such new modes of climate governance. However, the precise nature of the relationship between the various climate governance experiments and the international climate negotiations has not been analyzed in enough detail. Against this backdrop, the present article explores the interplay of a business sector climate governance experiment, i.e. the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) with the international climate regime. On the one hand, the article underscores that the GHG Protocol has filled a regulatory gap in global climate policy-making by providing the means for the corporate sector to comprehensively account and report their GHGs. On the other hand, it reveals that the application of the GHG Protocol guidelines depends to a large extent on the existence of an overarching policy framework set up by nation-states at the intergovernmental level. Only if private companies receive a clear political signal that stringent mandatory GHG emission controls and a global market-based instrument are at least likely to be adopted will they put substantial efforts into the accurate measurement and management of their GHGs. Thus, this article points to the limits of climate governance experimentation and suggests that business sector climate governance experiments need to be embedded in a coherent international regulatory setting which generates a clear stimulus for corporate action. KW - Climate governance experiments KW - GHG Protocol KW - International climate negotiations KW - UNFCCC KW - Voluntary global business initiatives Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.06.183 SN - 0959-6526 SN - 1879-1786 VL - 169 SP - 94 EP - 104 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hickmann, Thomas T1 - The reconfiguration of authority in global climate governance JF - International Studies Review N2 - Much of the literature in the field of international relations is currently concerned with the changing patterns of authority in world politics. This is particularly evident in the policy domain of climate change, where a number of authors have observed a relocation of authority in global climate governance. These scholars claim that multilateral treaty making has lost much of its spark, and they emphasize the emergence of transnational governance arrangements, such as city networks, private certification schemes, and business self-regulation. However, the different types of interactions between the various transnational climate initiatives and the intergovernmental level have not been studied in much detail and only recently attracted growing scholarly interest. Therefore, the present article addresses this issue and focuses on the interplay between three different transnational climate governance arrangements and the international climate regime. The analysis in this article underscores that substate and nonstate actors have attained several authoritative functions in global climate policy making. Nevertheless, the three case studies also demonstrate that this development does not imply that we are witnessing a general shift of authority away from the intergovernmental level toward transnational actors. Instead, what can be observed in global climate governance is an ongoing reconfiguration of authority, which apparently reaffirms the centrality of the international climate regime. Thus, this article points to the need for a more nuanced perspective on the changing patterns of authority in global climate governance. In a nutshell, this study shows that the international climate regime is not the only location where the problem of climate change is addressed, while it highlights the persistent authority of state-based forms of regulation. KW - authority KW - global climate governance KW - transnational governance arrangements Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/vix037 SN - 1521-9488 SN - 1468-2486 VL - 19 SP - 430 EP - 451 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hickmann, Thomas A1 - Stehle, Fee T1 - The Embeddedness of Urban Climate Politics in Multilevel Governance BT - a Case Study of South Africa’s Major Cities JF - The journal of environment & development : a review of international policy N2 - Numerous scholars have lately highlighted the importance of cities in the global response to climate change. However, we still have little systematic knowledge on the evolution of urban climate politics in the Global South. In particular, we lack empirical studies that examine how local climate actions arise in political-administrative systems of developing and emerging economies. Therefore, this article adopts a multilevel governance perspective to explore the climate mitigation responses of three major cities in South Africa by looking at their vertical and horizontal integration in the wider governance framework. In the absence of a coherent national climate policy, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban have developed distinct climate actions within their jurisdictions. In their effort to address climate change, transnational city networks have provided considerable technical support to these cities. Yet, substantial domestic political-economic obstacles hinder the three cities to develop a more ambitious stance on climate change. KW - climate change KW - developing and emerging economies KW - local climate policy making KW - multilevel governance KW - South Africa KW - transnational city networks Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/1070496518819121 SN - 1070-4965 SN - 1552-5465 VL - 28 IS - 1 SP - 54 EP - 77 PB - Sage Publ. CY - Thousand Oaks ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Höhne, Chris A1 - Fuhr, Harald A1 - Hickmann, Thomas A1 - Lederer, Markus A1 - Stehle, Fee ED - Nuesiri, Emmanuel O. T1 - REDD plus and the reconfiguration of public authority in the forest sector BT - a comparative case study of Indonesia and Brazil JF - Global Forest Governance and Climate Change N2 - Since the 1980s, central governments have decentralized forestry to local governments in many countries of the Global South. More recently, REDD+ has started to impact forest policy-making in these countries by providing incentives to ensure a national-level approach to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Höhne et al. analyze to what extent central governments have rebuilt capacity at the national level, imposed regulations from above, and interfered in forest management by local governments for advancing REDD+. Using the examples of Brazil and Indonesia, the chapter illustrates that while REDD+ has not initiated a large-scale recentralization in the forestry sector, it has supported the reinforcement and pooling of REDD+ related competences at the central government level. Y1 - 2018 SN - 978-3-319-71946-7 SN - 978-3-319-71945-0 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71946-7_8 SP - 203 EP - 241 PB - Palgrave CY - Basingstoke ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chan, Sander A1 - Boran, Idil A1 - van Asselt, Harro A1 - Iacobuta, Gabriela A1 - Niles, Navam A1 - Rietig, Katharine A1 - Scobie, Michelle A1 - Bansard, Jennifer S. A1 - Delgado Pugley, Deborah A1 - Delina, Laurence L. A1 - Eichhorn, Friederike A1 - Ellinger, Paula A1 - Enechi, Okechukwu A1 - Hale, Thomas A1 - Hermwille, Lukas A1 - Hickmann, Thomas A1 - Honegger, Matthias A1 - Hurtado Epstein, Andrea A1 - Theuer, Stephanie La Hoz A1 - Mizo, Robert A1 - Sun, Yixian A1 - Toussaint, Patrick A1 - Wambugu, Geoffrey T1 - Promises and risks of nonstate action in climate and sustainability governance JF - Wiley interdisciplinary reviews : Climate change KW - climate change KW - governance KW - nonstate actions KW - SDGs KW - sustainable development Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.572 SN - 1757-7780 SN - 1757-7799 VL - 10 IS - 3 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bansard, Jennifer S. A1 - Hickmann, Thomas A1 - Kern, Kristine T1 - Pathways to urban sustainability BT - How science can contribute to sustainable development in cities JF - GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society N2 - Recent years have seen a considerable broadening of the ambitions in urban sustainability policy-making. With its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, the 2030 Agenda stresses the critical role of cities in achieving sustainable development. In the context of SDG17 on partnerships, emphasis is also placed on the role of researchers and other scientific actors as change agents in the sustainability transformation. Against this backdrop, this article sheds light on different pathways through which science can contribute to urban sustainability. In particular, we discern four forms of science-policy-society interactions as key vectors: 1. sharing knowledge and providing scientific input to urban sustainability policy-making; 2. implementing transformative research projects; 3. contributing to local capacity building; and 4. self-governing towards sustainability. The pathways of influence are illustrated with empirical examples, and their interlinkages and limitations are discussed. We contend that there are numerous opportunities for actors from the field of sustainability science to engage with political and societal actors to enhance sustainable development at the local level. KW - cities KW - science-policy interactions KW - SDG 11 KW - sustainable development KW - urban sustainability Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.14512/gaia.28.2.9 SN - 0940-5550 VL - 28 IS - 2 SP - 112 EP - 118 PB - Oekom Verlag CY - München ER -