Bridging the gap - the role of non-state and subnational actors

Hsu, Angel / Oscar Widerberg / Faterneh Bakhtiari / Sander Chan / Katharina Lütkehermöller / Mark Roelfsema / Amy Weinfurter
External Publications (2018)

in: UN Environment (ed.), Emissions Gap Report 2018, Nairobi: UN Environment, 29-42

ISBN: 978-92-807-3726-4
Volltext/Document

Global climate change governance is diversifying rapidly: in recent years, political attention has been acknowledging the increasingly important role of non- state and subnational actors such as cities, states, regions, companies, investors, foundations, civil society organizations, and cooperative initiatives.

This chapter, assesses the role of non-state and subnational actors’ in enhancing global climate ambition and bridging the emissions gap, based on the most recent literature. The chapter begins with a brief overview of the increasing engagement of non-state and subnational actors (NSAs) in the UNFCCC process (section 5.2), before examining the landscape and trends in terms of NSAs’ individual commitments and international cooperative initiatives (ICIs) (section 5.3). Section 5.4 provides an assessment of the emission reduction potentials estimated by the latest studies and looks at non-quantifiable, roles of NSAs that have important implications for global climate change governance. The final section summarizes some of the key ways forward for harnessing the potential of NSAs’ climate action to bridge the emissions gap (section 5.5).

About the author

Chan, Sander

Transnational and international environmental politics and governance