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Order out of Chaos: Public and Private Rules for Managing Carbon

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  • Jessica F. Green

    (Jessica F. Green is assistant professor of political science at Case Western Reserve University.)

Abstract

To date, much of the work on “regime complexes”—loosely connected nonhierarchical institutions—has excluded an important part of the institutional picture: the role of private authority. This paper seeks to remedy this shortcoming by examining privately created standards within the regime complex for climate change and their relationship to public authority. Public rules in the Kyoto Protocol serve as a “coral reef,” attracting private rulemakers whose governance activities come to form part of the regime complex. Using original data, I conduct a network analysis of public and private standards for carbon management. Surprisingly, I find evidence of policy convergence—both around public rules and a subset of privately created rules: there is an emerging order in the complex institutional landscape that governs climate change. The observed convergence arises from private standards' concerns about demonstrating credibility and providing benefits for users. These findings are important for scholars of institutional complexity and climate politics: public rules on carbon accounting have the potential to outlast their current incarnation in the Kyoto Protocol, as perpetuated through private authority. © 2013 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Jessica F. Green, 2013. "Order out of Chaos: Public and Private Rules for Managing Carbon," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 13(2), pages 1-25, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:glenvp:v:13:y:2013:i:2:p:1-25
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    File URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/GLEP_a_00164
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Luc Fransen & Jelmer Schalk & Graeme Auld, 2020. "Community structure and the behavior of transnational sustainability governors: Toward a multi‐relational approach," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(1), pages 3-25, January.
    2. Oren Perez & Reuven Cohen & Nir Schreiber, 2019. "Governance through global networks and corporate signaling," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(4), pages 447-469, December.
    3. Gregory Trencher & Mathieu Blondeel & Jusen Asuka, 2023. "Do all roads lead to Paris?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 176(7), pages 1-33, July.
    4. Graeme Auld & Stefan Renckens & Benjamin Cashore, 2015. "Transnational private governance between the logics of empowerment and control," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(2), pages 108-124, June.
    5. Lasse Folke Henriksen & Stefano Ponte, 2018. "Public orchestration, social networks, and transnational environmental governance: Lessons from the aviation industry," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), pages 23-45, March.
    6. Jessica F. Green, 2017. "The strength of weakness: pseudo-clubs in the climate regime," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 41-52, September.
    7. Philipp Pattberg, 2017. "The emergence of carbon disclosure: Exploring the role of governance entrepreneurs," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(8), pages 1437-1455, December.
    8. Yixian Sun, 2017. "Transnational Public-Private Partnerships as Learning Facilitators: Global Governance of Mercury," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 17(2), pages 21-44, May.
    9. Thomas Hale & Charles Roger, 2014. "Orchestration and transnational climate governance," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 59-82, March.
    10. Blum, Mareike, 2020. "Whose climate? Whose forest? Power struggles in a contested carbon forestry project in Uganda," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    11. Howard, Rebecca Joy & Tallontire, Anne & Stringer, Lindsay & Marchant, Rob, 2015. "Unraveling the Notion of “Fair Carbon”: Key Challenges for Standards Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 343-356.
    12. Gallemore, Caleb & Guisinger, Amy & Kruuse, Mikkel & Ruysschaert, Denis & Jespersen, Kristjan, 2018. "Escaping the “Teenage” Years: The Politics of Rigor and the Evolution of Private Environmental Standards," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 76-87.
    13. Kenneth W. Abbott & Benjamin Faude, 2022. "Hybrid institutional complexes in global governance," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 263-291, April.
    14. Stefan Renckens, 2021. "Disaggregating public‐private governance interactions: European Union interventions in transnational private sustainability governance," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(4), pages 1230-1247, October.
    15. Abbott, Kenneth W. & Faude, Benjamin, 2022. "Hybrid institutional complexes in global governance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 109882, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Kate O’Neill & Erika Weinthal & Patrick Hunnicutt, 2017. "Seeing complexity: visualization tools in global environmental politics and governance," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 7(4), pages 490-506, December.
    17. Jason Thistlethwaite & Matthew Paterson, 2016. "Private governance and accounting for sustainability networks," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(7), pages 1197-1221, November.
    18. Cille Kaiser, 2022. "Rethinking polycentricity: on the North–South imbalances in transnational climate change governance," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 693-713, December.
    19. Jespersen, Kristjan & Gallemore, Caleb, 2018. "The Institutional Work of Payments for Ecosystem Services: Why the Mundane Should Matter," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 507-519.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    carbon; climate change; climate politics; Kyoto protocol;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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