Angel Hsu

Reinvigorating International Climate Policy: A Comprehensive Framework for Effective Nonstate Action

As countries negotiate a new climate agreement for the United Nations climate conference in December 2015, a groundswell of climate actions is emerging as cities, regions, businesses and civil society groups act on mitigation and adaptation, independently, with each other and with national governments and international organizations. The Paris conference provides a historic opportunity to establish a framework to catalyse, support, and steer these initiatives. Without such a framework, ‘bottom-up’ climate governance runs the risk of failing to deliver meaningful results. Social science research highlights the need for a comprehensive approach that promotes ambition, experimentation and accountability, and avoids unnecessary overlaps. This article specifies functions and design principles for a new, comprehensive framework for sub- and nonstate climate actions that could provide effective coordination.

Track climate pledges of cities and companies

Data transparency is key to accounting for how local governments and the private sector are contributing to global emissions reduction, say Angel Hsu and colleagues.

Opinion: Big data has big potential for applications to climate change adaptation

The capacity to collect and analyze massive amounts of data is transforming research in the natural and social sciences (1). And yet, the climate change adaptation community has largely overlooked these developments. Here, we examine how “big data” can inform adaptation research and decision-making and outline what’s needed from the adaptation community to maximize this opportunity. We contend that careful application of big data could revolutionize our understanding of how to manage the risks of climate change.

Aligning subnational climate actions for the new post-Paris climate regime

The Paris Agreement solidified the participation of subnational governments in global mitigation efforts, continuing the shift towards a polycentric landscape of climate action. Many scholars have suggested that the success of this emergent regime will depend, at least in part, on its ability to integrate climate action from non-state and subnational entities. Vertical alignment, the linking and coordination of policies between different levels of government, and horizontal alignment, the connection of peer cities and regions through networks of transnational climate governance, can help facilitate needed coherence. But, how do multiple actors link or interact at multiple scales and domains? In this article, we develop an analytical framework for examining different modes of vertical and horizontal alignment that subnational actors have employed to address climate change mitigation. We identify key elements in nine case studies of subnational climate action to examine the intersectionalities of alignment mechanisms that catalyze subnational climate actions. The paper concludes with a discussion about how vertical and horizontal alignment pathways overlap, intersect, and exhibit trade-offs.

Measuring Policy Analytical Capacity for the Environment: A Case for Engaging New Actors

Abstract This paper discusses how varied policy analytical capacity can be evaluated at the systemic level through observed gaps in environmental data monitoring and reporting among countries. Such analytical capacity at the knowledge system level facilitates transparency and credibility needed for nation-states to cooperate on issues requiring global coordination, including “super-wicked” environmental issues like climate change. So far there has been relatively sparse attention paid to whether countries will have the ability — or policy analytical capacity — to report the necessary data and indicators required for the next round of global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) being proposed. In this paper, I argue that the varied policy analytical capacity within the global environmental knowledge system necessitates the participation of new institutions and actors. Identifying gaps in data availability at a global, systemic scale, this paper presents a proxy measure of policy analytical capacity based on publicly-reported national statistics of air and water quality performance. Such discrepancies evaluated at a systemic level make a case for channels by which citizen scientists, independent watchdogs, private sector companies and third-party organizations can participate to enhance the policy analytical capacity of governments.