Varieties of CDM Governance: Some Reflections

In: The journal of environment & development: a review of international policy, Band 18, Heft 4, S. 425-435

Abstract

This overview discusses a series of themes critical to understanding the governance of clean development that cut across each of the case studies showcased in this special issue. Firstly, the question of who draws the boundaries around what is to be governed, what is not, and by whom, where each of the contributions highlight conflicts over which projects and sectors should be part of the CDM and which actors should be charged with their management. Secondly, how we define and what we mean by governance, where I argue for a broader notion of governance that adequately captures the range of governing functions exercised by the plurality of state and non-state actors in this domain. Thirdly, each of themes relates to the question of power: power to define what is and is not clean and sustainable development; the power that determines which countries are able to steer CDM investments toward sectors aligned with their overall development priorities, and the combinations of public and private power that demonstrate as well as explain the varieties of carbon governance documented in this special issue. My argument is that the observed diversity of carbon governance reflects differences in governance in general in those countries. It is impossible politically, and unhelpful conceptually, to attempt to understand carbon and clean development governance without reference to the broader political-economic context in which it is embedded and which it seeks to transform. But whether it is in the area of energy, waste, or forests, CDM governance is incorporated within and predated by political structures, institutions, conflicts, and interests that shape the amenability of a sector and country to pressures toward convergence, standardization, and universalization.