PADM 5450. International Public and NGO Management

5. Case: Climate Change Programs

September 19, 21, 2023

The United Nations has been involved in addressing climate change since the 1970's. Starting with the first United Nations Conference on the Environment in Stockholm in 1975, through the World Climate Progarmme that determined that human behavior could change the climate, the second United Nations Conference on the Environment in Rio in 1995 and the adoption of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, through the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) to today with the Paris Agreement, dealing with climate change is moving to become the highest priority in the international public sector. Institutionally, however, that response is still a work in progress. The structure of organizations is complex, coordination problems are rife and the nature of many tasks to address mitigation of and adaptation to climate change are still to be defined. Still, this is an area where the international public sector will doubtless grow and the session explores both the problems and the opportunities for dealing with climate change through global institutions.

Questions covered	The changing institutional structure for climate change; The role of non-governmental organizations; Managing a regime-creation process for climate change; Institutions for mitigation and adaptation
Lecture	Climate change lecture
Required readings	UNFCCC, Technical dialogue of the first global stocktake (In course canvas) Weiss and Wilkinson, Chapter 15 “Climate Action: Beyond the Paris Agreement” Climate Action Summit 2019, 23 September 2019 Mathiason and Bhandari, "Managing Climate Change: the Institutional Architecture," Paper prepared for the Panel on Public Administration Beyond the Nation-State in Environmental Governance, International Studies Association Convention, Montreal, March 2011 UN-REDD Methodological Brief on Gender, 2017 Renata Crist, IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, Synthesis Report, Structured Expert Dialogue, Lima, Peru, 2 December 2014 UNFCCC, the Paris Agreement, 2015 Browse the UNFCCC site to see preparations for COP-28. Earth Negotiations Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 663, SUMMARY OF THE PARIS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: 29 NOVEMBER – 13 DECEMBER 2015 Earth Negotiations Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 760, SUMMARY OF THE 50TH SESSION OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE: 2-7 AUGUST 2019 Michael Mann and Tom Toles, "Deniers club: Meet the people clouding the climate change debate," Washington Post, 18 September 2016. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC Sixth Assessment Synthesis Report, Summary for Policy-Makers, 2022 Green Climate Fund, About the Fund: Strategic Plan IISD, "IUCN Discusses Policy Convergence on Forest and Land Restoration" September 5, 2019
Recommended readings	UNEP Medium-Term Strategy 2018-2021 Global Environment Facility, GEF 2020: Strategy paper for the Global Environment Facility The UNFCCC Secretariat Global Environment Facility, GEF Council approves largest-ever single batch of projects and programs, 12 June 2019
Discussion questions	What are the main factors in agreeing on international emissions targets? What institutions are necessary to manage climate change through the international public sector? What is the likely role of development assistance agencies in mitigation and adaptation?
Session recording	19 and 21 September 2023 in the course Canvas.

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