Completed Dissertation Project

The dissertation puts forward the argument that while transnational city networks, private certification schemes, and private self-regulation can surely contribute to solving the problem of climate change, the development of such initiatives by different types of sub- and non-state actors does not imply a weakening of the intergovernmental level. On the contrary, many transnational climate initiatives use the international climate regime as a point of reference and have adopted various rules and procedures from international agreements. Most importantly, the case studies in this dissertation suggest that the effective operation of transnational climate initiatives strongly relies on the existence of an international regulatory framework created by nation-states. Thus, the dissertation emphasizes the centrality of the intergovernmental process clustered around the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and underscores that multilateral treaty-making continues to be more important than many scholars and policy-makers suppose.

Rethinking Authority in Global Climate Governance