The “Triple COP” Year 2026: Multilateral Environmental Governance between Geopolitical Disruption and Institutional Reform

Event Type
Semi-plenary Roundtable

Location / Date
Bath, UK, 08.09.2026

Organizer

University of Bath, Earth System Governance Project, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

Notwithstanding the bleak backdrop of ecological polycrisis and geopolitical disruption, multilateral environmental governance continues to operate, sustaining institutional routines at technical as well as at political levels. Contrary to what has been augured, especially after the Trump II administration’s withdrawal from the IPCC and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) earlier this year, states are not abandoning multilateral environmental institutions in droves. Indeed, the second half of 2026 alone will see a quick succession of major multilateral conferences. At the time of the Bath Conference on Earth System Governance the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will just have concluded its 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) in Mongolia; COP17 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Armenia and COP31 of the UNFCCC are all set to convene in Armenia in October and in Türkiye in November respectively, to be swiftly followed by the UN Water Conference in the United Arab Emirates in early December. Hence, multilateral environmentalism is far from dead. That is not to say that all is well. It is evident that multilateral environmental institutions need to shift gears if they are to deliver more effective responses to global ecological challenges, even amid geopolitical disruption. Now what?

We argue that the disruptive dynamics of geopolitics constitute not only an imperative to reform, but an opportunity for reforming. In this semi-plenary, we convene a roundtable of eminent scholars of multilateral environmental governance and engage the ESG community to discuss that proposition.

Roundtable speakers (in alphabetical order):

Joanna Depledge (University of Cambridge), 
Dhanasree Jayaram (Manipal Institute of Social Sciences), 
Kennedy Mbeva (University of Cambridge), 
Susan Park (University of Sidney), 
Lindsay C. Stringer (York University), 
Fariborz Zelli (Lund University)

Convenor
Steffen Bauer (IDOS)

Hinweis

Während unserer Veranstaltungen werden z.T. Foto- und/oder Filmaufnahmen gemacht, die für Zwecke der Veranstaltungsberichterstattung und allgemeinen Öffentlichkeitsarbeit in verschiedenen Medien veröffentlicht werden. Sie haben jederzeit das Recht, die Foto- oder Videograf*innen darauf hinzuweisen, dass Sie nicht aufgenommen werden möchten. / During our events photos and/or videos may be taken which may be published in various media for the purposes of documentation and PR activities. You have the right at any time to point out to the photographer or videographer that you do not want to be photographed or filmed.