A Sectoral Perspective on how Global Governance Can Help Solve Climate Change

NDC ASPECTS report on sectoral climate governance gaps and policy options

  • News 09.11.2022

Global climate policy has so far strongly focused on economy-wide emissions. However, mitigation opportunities and barriers vary strongly from sector to sector. Taking these sectoral differences into account would allow global governance  and international cooperation to identify the most promising route of action.

The report "Assessing sectoral climate governance gaps and policy options" by a team of authors from the Free University Brussels, Basque Centre for Climate Change, University of Eastern Finland, and the Wuppertal Institute assesses sectoral governance gaps and potentials across four hard-to-abate sectors. The four sectors are Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU), energy-intensive industry, buildings, and transport. The sectoral analyses build on a common research framework that identifies six functions that international governance can perform to help solve problems such as climate change:

  • guidance and signalling; 
  • setting rules to facilitate collective action; 
  • transparency and accountability; 
  • means of implementation; 
  • knowledge diffusion and learning; and, 
  • orchestration and coordination.

By applying this framework, the four selected governance analyses take stock of the existing activities of international institutions (mapped against the various governance functions), and  identify areas where sectoral agreements and coalitions could help realise transformational pathways. To assess options for advancing sectoral climate governance, the authors apply a common set of broad assessment criteria for all case studies, including membership of the institution, institutional strength and capacity, legitimacy and authority, and political feasibility. On this basis, they identify and assess different options to close existing governance gaps, such as  reforming one or more existing institutions, or creating a new institution.

The report is available free of charge under the link below.


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