From UNGA to COP26 & Beyond: The Future of Climate Governance

The United Nations (UN) Secretary General has urged all nations to declare a state of climate emergency, and has also called the recent Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ⎯ which reports the worsening unprecedented, unequivocal and irreversible (for centuries to millennia) effects caused by human-induced global heating ⎯ a “Code Red for Humanity.”

Against the backdrop of the multi-faceted global pandemic recovery, among other global challenges, the gravity and urgency of the planetary climate emergency is becoming more widely understood, and increasingly acknowledged. Science is showing that the civilization-nurturing climatic conditions of our planet – stable for the past approximately 12,000 years – are profoundly threatened, and serious changes are happening more quickly than predicted. For example, a range of the earth’s known biophysical systems which regulate the global climate are showing signs of instability earlier than scientists had predicted and may foreshadow the crossing of dangerous and mutually reinforcing tipping points. Such developments telegraph the seriousness of current conditions and the need for rapid action by national governments and the international community to stabilize and protect the earth’s climate system.

Unless we rapidly and radically shift course, the world is heading for catastrophic climate change and possible ecological collapse. Some have called our present predicament a survival crisis for humanity – and certainly for human civilization and for populations as we currently know them – depending on the course of action we collectively choose. Paradoxically, even though solutions exist to mitigate the most devastating effects of the climate crisis – including global governance solutions – they are not being implemented at a pace and scale commensurate with the magnitude and the urgency of the challenge.

Even with this sharpening scientific understanding, the vast majority of the world’s emitters are not yet on track to meet their pledges of emission cuts. It has been observed that the timelines of many nations are not ambitious enough (e.g., focusing on mid-Century targets), and current global governance approaches remain weak, lacking in accountability mechanisms, fragmented and siloed. What new approaches and governance innovations might the international community wish to consider, as a matter of priority? And what strategies can be considered to ensure that these innovations are implemented?

Panelists

Maja Groff, Convenor, Climate Governance Commission
Richard Ponzio, Senior Fellow and Director, Global Governance, Justice and Security Program at the Stimson Center, and Member of the Climate Governance Commission
Jimena Leiva Roesch, Senior Fellow and Head of Peace and Sustainable Development at the International Peace Institute, and Member of the Climate Governance Commission
Arunabha Ghosh, CEO at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, Member of the Climate Governance Commission
Dhabia Al-Mohannadi, Professor, Texas A&M University at Qatar
Katharine Rietig, Associate Professor in International Politics at Newcastle University, and Member of the Climate Governance Network
Michael Collins, Executive Director for the Americas at the Institute for Economics and Peace
Magnus Jiborn, Head of Research, Global Challenges Foundation and Member of the Climate Governance Commission

Moderator

Adriana Erthal Abdenur, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Plataforma CIPÓ and Member of the Climate Governance Commission