Global Stocktake: How International Institutions can Foster Transitions

Global emissions continue to rise, despite all efforts – and despite three decades of international climate negotiations: Since the first Conference of the Parties to the UN Climate Convention, or COP 1 for short, was held in Berlin in 1995, the Parties have struggled every year to make progress in the global fight against climate change. This raises the question: How meaningful and effective is global climate policy if emissions continue to rise despite thirty years of negotiations – and what influence do international institutions have on the development of emissions?

In their article "The potential of international institutions to foster transitions. The example of the Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement", researchers from the Wuppertal Institute and the Eindhoven University of Technology offer a new perspective on this question: using the example of the Global Stocktake (GST), they have analysed whether and how international processes and institutions can foster the transition to climate neutrality. The researchers are integrating insights from literature on global climate governance as well as literature on socio-technical transitions. Wolfgang Obergassel, Co-Head of the Global Climate Governance Research Unit at the Wuppertal Institute and lead author of the article, describes one of the key findings: "In established socio-technical systems, there is often active resistance to change – especially in high-emission systems, which are usually particularly susceptible to lock-in effects due to the high volume of capital and the longevity of the infrastructure." Politicians should therefore both promote low-emission approaches and actively destabilise high-emission systems, said the scientist.

Nevertheless, the international climate negotiations are effective and important, according to the authors: The outcome of the first GST, for example, is an important guideline for the individual parties and provides an impulse for transitioning away from fossil resources. However, the GST failed to mobilise other governance functions and thus also to address other dimensions of socio-technical systems.

The article "The potential of international institutions to foster transitions. The example of the Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement" was published in the journal "Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions" and is available to download free of charge via the link below.