Uma orquestra sem maestro?: governança do spa (UNFCCC)

Abstract

This research investigates the subnational dynamics of global climate governance, particularly regarding the engagement of these actors in agendas, processes, and negotiations established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It asks to what extent the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities Constituency (LGMA) is able to influence UNFCCC governance through its action agenda for the Conferences of the Parties (COPs), especially in the post-Paris Agreement period (2015-2024). Beyond the introduction, the first section is conceptual, mobilizing elements that support the inclusion of the topic within the research fields of governance and International Relations. It also reflects on the governance arrangements established after the failure of the Kyoto Protocol and the gradual transition of the regime toward a “bottom-up” model adopted by the Paris Agreement. The second section discusses the framing of local governments within global climate governance, the instruments adopted by the LGMA to coordinate activities, and its relation to the agenda of transnational networks. The third section traces the process of the Local Governments’ Climate Roadmap, created to foster recognition, engagement, and empowerment of the LGMA in the regime, followed by a fourth section that analyzes the group’s advocacy in the post-Paris era. After the Paris Agreement, new dynamics emerged, supposedly favorable to the decentralization of the UNFCCC and the engagement of non-state and subnational actors in a deliberate attempt to coordinate the ambition of the Parties. On the other hand, considering that these actors are both associated with the risks and effects of the climate crisis and embedded in distributive conflicts and power struggles at the global level, the governance dynamic still appears to manifest itself in a considerably top-down manner for non-Party actors such as local governments