Governing through the nationally determined contribution (NDC): five functions to steer states’ climate conduct

ABSTRACT

The Paris Agreement places states’ nationally determined contributions (NDCs) at the center of global climate politics. While previous research on the NDC has provided important suggestions for enhanced legitimacy and effectiveness of global climate governance, I examine the NDC not in terms of its content, but as an instrument for governing climate conduct in the post-Paris regime. By analyzing state submissions to post-Paris NDC negotiations, I identify five functions of the NDC: Progress Tracker, Trust-Builder, Influencer, Differentiator, and Gatekeeper. While the first three functions are informed by a techno-managerial rationality that posits effective climate action as a project of increased information-sharing, the last two highlight underlying political struggles of responsibility and fairness which are not necessarily solvable through intensified collaboration. I argue that these diverging views on the function of the NDC will become increasingly prominent as we move toward the first round of the global stocktake in 2023.

KEYWORDS:

• Paris Agreement
• governmentality
• global governance
• climate politics

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The nationally determined contribution (NDC) as a governing instrument: a critical engagement

Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) as a governance instrument – accounting for politics, negotiation progress, and related mechanisms under the Paris Agreement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Available at https://unfccc.int/process/bodies/subsidiary-bodies/ad-hoc-working-group-on-the-paris-agreement-apa/information-on-apa-agenda-item-3 (Accessed May 5, 2021).

2. Environmental Integrity Group (EIG). Members: Liechtenstein, Mexico, Rep. of Korea, Switzerland, Monaco & Georgia.

3. Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC). Members: Algeria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan, China, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Vietnam & Zimbabwe.

4. UNFCCC (2018). Global Climate Action 2018: Examples of Good Practice. Available at https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/GCA_TD_GoodPractices_2018.pdf (Accessed Aug 13, 2021).

5. Members: 54 African states.

6. UNFCCC website. Available at https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/nationally-determined-contributions-ndcs/nationally-determined-contributions-ndcs (Accessed May 3, 2022).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas [2011-779].