A Study On Global Climate Governance And International Non-governmental Organizations

In October 2014,the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC)released its fifth assessment report,making it clear again that global warming is an unquestionable fact.After more than 30 years of development,the focus of the global climate governance mechanism has shifted from discussion over global warming to the search for international solutions;"State-centered Governance" has been replaced by "Multiple Level Collaborative Governance";the "top-down" governance mechanism has included the Paris Agreement at its core.On one hand,greenhouse gas emissions and impacts are trans-regional and thus need to be addressed globally.On the other hand,global anarchism makes it impossible to reach a consensus at an international level.Nowadays,different players are working together and interacting with each other to combat climate change.Among them,International non-govermateral orgniazations(INGOs)have become a powerful non-state actor in supplying "global public goods" to enable more effective climate governance.They are participating in negotiations over climate change,expressing their views over policy implementation and making their contributions at global and regional levels to the establishment of a global climate governance mechanism.INGO,as part of the climate governance mechanism,is growing in number,type and professional competence.INGOs currently include business and industry NGOs,environmental NGOs,farmers and agricultural NGOs,indigenous peoples organizations,local governments and municipalities authorities,research and independent NGOs,trade union NGOs,women and gender constituency,and youth NGOs.Nearly all the groups concerned are included.Among them,environmental NGOs and independent research NGOs have the greatest influence,organizing more than 70% of all INGOs activities.During the process of global climate governance,NGOs have certain features and preferences.First of all,they are more active in negotiations at the early stage of a new core agreement,but tend to become less involved in mid-term and long-term negotiations.Second,in the face of limited resources in global climate regime,INGOs cooperate with other organizations,parties and actors.Third,the United Nations is an important way for INGOs to participate in climate governance.During the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,INGOs joined the discussion by means of holding side events and exhibitions.We have also discovered that though INGOs are growing in number,they are not fully involved in conference negotiations.Their participation is linearly related to the growth of intergovernmental organizations.So we need to realize that under the trend of "multiple climate governance",the role of INGOs,though having their own autonomy,is still limited by role of states,which is one of the features of a global mechanism.In the upstream process of the climate governance,in terms of mechanism establishment and the impact on negotiations,INGOs respond to the need of their participation in governance and also have their say in the subjects under discussion and the agenda.For example,INGOs,under the Framework Convention on Climate Change,offer opinions,experiences and information,participate in relevant meetings,events,seminars jointly organized by all parties,provide funding,technology and capacity building support and review,evaluate,and monitor the process and implementation of different policies.Meanwhile,they focus on long-term global emission reduction targets and mitigation actions,advocate for the improvement of their own guarantee mechanisms for participation in negotiations,and provide suggestions on a new global governance mechanism where the public are actively engaged and play major roles.In the downstream process of the climate governance,in terms of the concept of governance and policy preferences,INGOs have been promoting "multiple climate governance".They advocate the climate governance at the national and local levels,with their focus on adaptation actions and the sharing of experience from relevant policies and projects.INGOs strongly promote green economy strategies like energy transition and sustainable development.They also advocate for forest maintenance and sustainable management of natural resources.INGOs encourage the participation of nan-state actors by actively influencing local or urban governance,urging companies to participate in emission reduction and energy transformation,guiding private institutions to increase investment,and appealing to the public to participate in community governance and supervision.Combining the above behavioral characteristics of INGOs,the article makes recommendations to China.Under the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s "Community of Human Destiny",people should think about global climate governance from the perspective of "the common destiny of man and nature".The“Belt and Road” green initiative shows China’s determination to take practical steps in protecting the environment.China has gradually become an important player in global climate governance and it also needs to further recognize the significance of INGOs.First,China should understand the features and preferences of INGOs so as to increase trust and cooperation,try to reach consensus so as to work along each other’s side and support more INOGs projects to jointly tackle climate change.Secondly,China should encourage more domestic NGOs to go international,make more contributions as a major power,raise the awareness of the public in protecting the environment and foster more talents to work in international organizations and participate in climate governance.To sum up,China will increase its leadership in climate governance to establish a fairer global climate governance system.Interaction with INGOs and a deeper understanding of the concepts and features of INGOs are of great importance to China to have a bigger say in international climate negotiations and diplomatic activities.