Daniel C. Esty

Good Governance at the Supranational Scale: Globalizing Administrative Law

This Article examines the tension between the demonstrable need for structured international cooperation in a world of interdependence and the political strain that arises whenever policymaking authority is lodged in global institutions. It argues that the tools of administrative law, which have been used to legitimate regulatory decisionmaking in the domestic context, should be deployed more systematically when policymaking is undertaken at the international level. While acknowledging the inevitable lack of democratic underpinnings for supranational governance, this Article highlights a series of other bases for legitimacy: expertise and the ability to promote social welfare; the order and stability provided by the rule of law; checks and balances; structured deliberation; and, most notably, the institutional design of the policymaking process as structured by principles and practices of administrative law. In developing the logic for procedural legitimacy as a foundation for good governance at the supranational scale, this Article advances a taxonomy of possible global administrative law tools. It then evaluates against this template of good governance procedures some existing decisionmaking procedures in the international trade, public health, and environmental policy regimes. The core conclusion is this: Even if supranational governance is limited and hampered by divergent traditions, cultures, and political preferences, developing a baseline set of administrative law tools and practices will strengthen whatever supranational policymaking is undertaken.

The World Trade Organization's legitimacy crisis

Despite the successful launch of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations at Doha, the World Trade Organization faces a legitimacy crisis. Protests continue to rock major international economic meetings, and the WTOs role in globalization is being questioned by many observers. This paper examines the contours of this crisis and explores the possibility that the WTOs indirect ties to popular sovereignty – through national governments – provide an insufficient foundation for the trade regimes authority and central role in the emerging structure of global governance. Arguing that the WTO needs to re-establish its legitimacy based on wider links to the public around the world in whose name freer trade is pursued, the paper suggests that the WTO must also re-build its reputation for efficacy in a context where success is no longer measured exclusively in narrow economic terms. To be seen as serving the interests of the world community broadly, the trade regime needs to pursue its economic goals in a fashion that shows sensitivity to other important goals and values, such as poverty alleviation, environmental protection, and the promotion of public health. Long-term success further depends on the trade regime becoming embedded within a broader structure of global governance that provides ‘checks and balances’ and reinforces the legitimacy of international trade policy making.

Moving From National to International Environmental Policy

Environmental problems will increasingly spill over national boundaries. An effective and efficient response to these problems will require international solutions; relying purely on national regulatory mechanisms to address global issues will not suffice. To meet this need, better international environmental programs must be developed that maximize collective gain, enforce property rights, address the range of environmental values present in different countries, and fairly determine who should pay for global-scale pollution control.

Globalisation and Environmental Protection: A Global Governance Perspective

This chapter disaggregates the globalization on the environment into economic, regulatory, information, and pluralization effects. It complements this structure with an analysis of how national and global environmental policies affect globalization. It then argues that there is a need for revitalized governance regime in order to organize and sustain environmental cooperation at the global level. Such a global environmental mechanism (GEM) would provide a new model for collaboration, overcoming the shortcoming of existing bodies. The GEM’s core elements would be a global information clearing-house to highlight tools and strategies, and a global environmental bargaining forum. The chapter concludes that the GEM approach with a “light” institutional architecture that relies on global public policy networks and modern information technologies offers the potential of improved results and greater institutional legitimacy because of its response speed, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and potential for broader public participation.

Lessons from first campus carbon-pricing scheme

to launch a carbon-price programme across its campus. More than 250 buildings, together accounting for nearly 70% of the institution’s emissions, will be charged US

Business Leadership in Global Climate Change Responses

40 per tonne of carbon dioxide that they emit as a result of energy use. Buildings that reduce their emissions more than the average will receive a share of the funds collected. More than 500 firms around the world — three times more than a year ago — consider a carbon price of some kind when judging where to invest their money. Hundreds more are expected to start doing so in the coming months. Faced with higher prices, these organizations are shifting to energy uses that generate less emissions and are more efficient. Although some large companies have tried internal carbon pricing over the past two decades — BP was the first, in 1998 — little has been published about the value of such programmes. Here, we share initial insights and ideas for future research from a pilot scheme tried in 2015–16 at Yale — a prelude to the university’s decision to roll out carbon pricing more broadly this year.

Where is global waste management heading? An analysis of solid waste sector commitments from nationally-determined contributions

In the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement, 195 countries committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in recognition of the scientific consensus on the consequences of climate change, including substantial public health burdens. In June 2017, however, US president Donald Trump announced that the United States would not implement the Paris Agreement. We highlight the business communitys backing for climate change action in the United States. Just as the US federal government is backing away from its Paris commitments, many corporate executives are recognizing the need to address the greenhouse gas emissions of their companies and the business logic of strong environmental, social, and governance practices more generally. We conclude that climate change could emerge as an issue on which the business and public health communities might align and provide leadership.

Changing International Law for a Changing Climate

Waste-sector greenhouse gas emissions have long been accepted as a critical component of climate change mitigation efforts because of the significant radiative forcing of methane (CH4) production from municipal landfills and other emissions from waste management processes. In developed countries, waste generation is expected to peak and decline by the end of the century, whereas waste generation is rapidly rising in many developing nations. The extent to which the countries of the world are planning to handle future quantities of waste has not been explored in detail. This work provides the first detailed account of future waste management planning and waste-sector mitigation strategies through an analysis of stated commitments in the 174 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs, documents outlining each countrys actions to mitigate carbon emissions and adapt to a changing climate) that have been filed to date within the Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat in Bonn. One-hundred thirty-seven of 174 countries that submitted NDCs included waste-sector emission mitigation actions, representing approximately 85% of all global emissions. About half (67) of the countries that included waste sector mitigation tactics identified infrastructure or policy actions to meet mitigation commitments, but these strategies vary widely in their scope and level of detail. Landfilling was the most commonly-cited waste-sector commitment (n = 47), followed by deriving energy from waste through various techniques (n = 42). Countries targeting improved solid waste collections had less extensive coverage (µcollection = 38% of generated waste collected) than countries that did not prioritize improved collections (µcollection = 46% of waste generation), but countries not prioritizing the waste sector at all in NDCs had the most limited waste collection coverage (µcollection = 33%). Almost all of the countries that specified emissions inventory assumptions (132 of 135) use outdated CH4 global warming potential values which, coupled with missing or poor waste management data suggests many countries may be underestimating the importance of waste sector emissions in national emissions portfolios. Several examples of data collection and reporting models are identified that can help to inform and potentially improve life-cycle environmental outcomes in the waste sector. Adaptation strategies detailed in NDCs have largely overlooked the waste sector, suggesting inadequate incorporation of future climate scenarios in waste sector infrastructure planning.

Green Markets@@@Thinking Ecologically: The Next Generation of Environmental Policy

After more than two decades of inadequate international efforts to address climate change resulting from rising greenhouse gas emissions, the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement shifted gears. That agreement advances a “bottom-up” model of global cooperation that requires action commitments from all national governments and acknowledges the important role that cities, states, provinces, and businesses must play in delivering deep decarbonization. Given the limited control that presidents and prime ministers have over many of the policies and choices that determine their countries’ carbon footprints, the Paris Agreement missed an opportunity to formally recognize the climate change action commitments of mayors, governors, and premiers. These subnational officials often have authorities complementary to national governments, particularly in federal systems (including the United States, China, Canada, and Australia). They therefore possess significant independent capacities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through their economic development strategies, building codes, zoning rules and practices, public transportation investments, and other policies. Likewise, the world community missed an opportunity to formally recognize the commitments of companies to successful implementation of the Paris Agreement and thereby to highlight the wide range of decisions that business leaders make that significantly affect greenhouse gas emissions.

Green to gold : how smart companies use environmental strategy to innovate, create value, and build competitive advantage

Twenty-five years ago, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio was so contaminated that it caught fire, air pollution in some cities was thick enough to taste, and environmental laws focused on the obvious enemy: large American factories with belching smokestacks and pipes gushing wastes. Federal legislation has succeeded in providing cleaner air and water, but we now confront a different set of environmental problems-less visible and more subtle. This important book offers thought-provoking ideas on how America can respond to changing public health and ecological risks and create sound environmental policy for the future. The innovative thinkers of the Next Generation Project of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy-experts from business, government, nongovernmental organizations, and academia-propose reforms that balance environmental efforts with other public needs and issues. They call for new foundations for environmental law and policy, adoption of a more diverse set of policy tools and strategies (economic incentives, ecolabels), and new connections between critical sectors (agriculture, energy, transportation, service providers) and environmental policy. Future progress must involve not only officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state environmental protection departments, say the authors, but also decision-makers as diverse as mayors, farmers, energy company executives, and delivery route planners. To be effective, next-generation policy-making will view environmental challenges comprehensively, connect academic theory with practical policy, and bridge the gaps that have caused recent policy debates to break down in rancor. This book begins the process of accomplishing these challenging goals.