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Chapter 5.
Bridging the gap: The role of non-state and subnational actors
Lead authors: Angel Hsu (Yale-NUS College/Data-Driven Yale), Oscar Widerberg (IVM, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Contributing authors: Amy Weinfurter (Data-Driven Yale), Sander Chan (German Development Institute), Mark Roelfsema (PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency), Katharina Lütkehermöller (NewClimate Institute), Fatemeh Bakhtiari (UNEP DTU Partnership)
5.1 Introduction
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).
5.2 Non-state and subnational actors and climate change negotiations: from Paris to Katowice
The 2015 Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC held in Paris showed an increased institutionalization of NSA processes and engagement (UNEP, 2016), paving the way for NSAs to play an increasingly prominent role in supporting Parties’ mitigation and adaptation efforts. Specifically, the Paris Agreement:
• Encourages Parties to work closely with non-Party stakeholders1
to catalyze efforts to strengthen mitigation and adaptation action (paragraph 118).
• Encourages non-Party stakeholders to register their climate actions in the Non- State Actor Zone for Climate Action platform (paragraph 117).
• Convenes a high-level event building on the Lima–Paris Action Agenda during the period 2016–2020 in conjunction with each session of the Conference of the Parties (paragraph 120).
• Appoints two high-level champions on behalf of the President of the Conference of the Parties to catalyze NSAs (paragraph 121).
Following Paris, the first two high-level champions2 launched the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action during the 2016 Conference of the Parties to continue mobilizing NSAs’ support of the Parties, and alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (MP Work Programme 2017–2018).
During the 2017 Conference of the Parties, the champions were asked to align the Marrakech Partnership with the 2018 Talanoa Dialogue that takes stock of Parties’ efforts towards the Paris Agreement goals and aims to inform the preparation of new or updated NDCs by 2020 (Decision 1/CP.23, Annex II). They also presented the first yearbook on climate action that reports on NSA actions and is expected to inform the Talanoa Dialogue. By April 2018, 109 NSA inputs had been registered with the Talanoa Dialogue, which will take place at the 24th Katowice December 2018.
Conference of the Parties in
In parallel with the UNFCCC process, national and regional initiatives have emerged to stimulate and support NSAs in the European Union, Latin America and Asia, among others (Chan et al., 2018).
1 Non-Party Stakeholders is the term the UNFCCC uses for NSAs. 2 Dr. Laurence Tubiana (France) and Dr. Hakima El Haite (Morocco).
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