Arguments and architectures: Discursive and institutional structures shaping global climate engineering governance

Miranda Boettcher; Rakhyun E. Kim

doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2021.11.015

Arguments and architectures: Discursive and institutional structures shaping global climate engineering governance

Miranda Boettcher^*, Rakhyun E. Kim

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

The Anthropocene is giving rise to novel challenges for global environmental governance. The barriers and opportunities shaping the ways in which some of these complex environmental challenges become governable on the global level are of increasing academic and practical relevance. In this article, we bring neo-institutionalist and post-structuralist perspectives together in an innovative framework to analyse how both institutional and discursive structures together bound and shape the global governance opportunities which become thinkable and practicable in the face of new global environmental challenges. We apply this framework to explore how governance of climate engineering – large scale, deliberate invention into the global climate system – is being shaped by discursive and institutional structures in three international forums: The London Convention and its Protocol, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the United Nations Environment Assembly. We illustrate that the ‘degree of fit’ between discursive and institutional structures made climate engineering (un)governable in each of these forums. Furthermore, we find that the ‘type of fit’ set the discursive and institutional conditions of possibility for what type of governance emerged in each of these cases. Based on our findings, we critically discuss the implications for the future governance of climate engineering at the global level.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	121-131
Number of pages	11
Journal	Environmental Science and Policy
Volume	128
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2021.11.015
Publication status	Published - Feb 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Rakhyun E. Kim , PhD, is Assistant Professor of Global Environmental Governance at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He directs a five-year research programme on the causes and effects of problem-shifting between international environmental treaty regimes, supported by a Starting Grant awarded to him in 2020 by the European Research Council. His research investigates the structure and dynamics of global governance as a complex network of institutions with a view to improving its overall effectiveness. His most recent publications include Architectures of Earth System Governance: Institutional Complexity and Structural Transformation (Cambridge University Press, 2020). He is the winner of the 2013 Oran R. Young Prize.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors

Keywords

Climate engineering
Discourse analysis
Global environmental governance
International institutions
Neo-institutionalism
Post-structuralism

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Cite this

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abstract = "The Anthropocene is giving rise to novel challenges for global environmental governance. The barriers and opportunities shaping the ways in which some of these complex environmental challenges become governable on the global level are of increasing academic and practical relevance. In this article, we bring neo-institutionalist and post-structuralist perspectives together in an innovative framework to analyse how both institutional and discursive structures together bound and shape the global governance opportunities which become thinkable and practicable in the face of new global environmental challenges. We apply this framework to explore how governance of climate engineering – large scale, deliberate invention into the global climate system – is being shaped by discursive and institutional structures in three international forums: The London Convention and its Protocol, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the United Nations Environment Assembly. We illustrate that the {\textquoteleft}degree of fit{\textquoteright} between discursive and institutional structures made climate engineering (un)governable in each of these forums. Furthermore, we find that the {\textquoteleft}type of fit{\textquoteright} set the discursive and institutional conditions of possibility for what type of governance emerged in each of these cases. Based on our findings, we critically discuss the implications for the future governance of climate engineering at the global level.",

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AB - The Anthropocene is giving rise to novel challenges for global environmental governance. The barriers and opportunities shaping the ways in which some of these complex environmental challenges become governable on the global level are of increasing academic and practical relevance. In this article, we bring neo-institutionalist and post-structuralist perspectives together in an innovative framework to analyse how both institutional and discursive structures together bound and shape the global governance opportunities which become thinkable and practicable in the face of new global environmental challenges. We apply this framework to explore how governance of climate engineering – large scale, deliberate invention into the global climate system – is being shaped by discursive and institutional structures in three international forums: The London Convention and its Protocol, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the United Nations Environment Assembly. We illustrate that the ‘degree of fit’ between discursive and institutional structures made climate engineering (un)governable in each of these forums. Furthermore, we find that the ‘type of fit’ set the discursive and institutional conditions of possibility for what type of governance emerged in each of these cases. Based on our findings, we critically discuss the implications for the future governance of climate engineering at the global level.

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Arguments and architectures: Discursive and institutional structures shaping global climate engineering governance

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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