Suchergebnisse

(China Perspect/GIGA)

South East Asia is one of the regions that is assumed to be the most affected by the advert consequences of climate change, especially by more frequent and extreme weather events, increased risks of tropical epidemics and sea level rise. But the climate change equation in South East Asia is no longer a one-way street. The projected sustained economic growth of the region, assumed to be around 5-6% annually up to 2030, is also expected to lead to a large increase in energy consumption and corresponding regional CO2 emissions. ASEAN is thus caught up in the dilemma of developing while already facing the creeping costs of climate change, yet its engagement in global climate negotiations has been minimal. The EU's cooperation with ASEAN countries has not reached a strategic level. Most of EU-ASEAN cooperation on climate change has taken place under the umbrella of EU cooperation for development and 'bottom-up' input from these actions in the global climate negotiations has yet to materialise. The two regions seem to remain split along the 'North-South' divide. The paper argues that despite this, enhanced inter-regional cooperation on climate change can yield large benefits for climate governance. Multilateral cooperation automatisms from regionalism can provide learning experiences for the global negotiations. Moreover, a distinct ASEAN process of mainstreaming climate change in its regional community building project can potentially develop south-south cooperation and other innovative cooperation patterns that can then feed into the global level. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Hidden behind the somewhat academic title of "Green Politics in China.Environmental Governance and State-Society Relations" is a valuabledepiction of China's nascent grassroots civil society. Whereas the bulk of recent studies on similar topics have focused on the evolving nature of the authoritarian regime, this book's originality stems from its analysis of state-society relations from a "bottom-up" perspective. The reversed grassroots narrative they persuasively deploy is grounded in both large volumes of Chinese-language scholarly and popular works and extensive field-work including 32 interviews with representatives from 14 organizations across China (though admittedly the bulk are from Beijing -based ENGOs).The authors defend the idea that contrary to mainstream views, Chinese grassroots Environmental NGOs (non-government sponsored, ENGOs) are not the weak and submissive organizations they are normally portrayed, even though they acknowledge the dominance of the State. Instead the "conformist rebels" running them have found creative strategies to push the boundaries of public participation in the non-democratic decision-making process and in doing so have managed to establish a positive dynamic promoting the "green" agenda amongst Chinese society. The authors thereby contribute the scholarship unsatisfied with a dichotomous view of "State" versus "society" in China studies (see e.g. Ho and Edmonds' China's Embedded Activism (2008) and Shapiro's China's Environmental Challenges, 2012, both discussed here). ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The entry into force, on January 1st, 2012, of the European Union Directive 2008/101/EC extending the European Emission Trading System to domestic and international civil aviation has taken the dispute regarding its legitimacy to unprecedented heights. The choice of the EU legislator to include foreign air carriers and their CO2 emissions that occurred beyond EU airspace infuriated third countries, while the fact that the directive applies the same treatment to all airline operators whatever their nationality met vivid criticism from developing countries, in particular China and India. This paper investigates the reasons why the environmental objective pursued by the EU Aviation ETS does not seem sufficient to render its unilateral adoption acceptable to the international community, despite staging multilateral negotiations and despite the flourishing national transplants of the ETS system in other jurisdictions. Thereby it provides a preliminary assessment of what the current row implies for the global governance of climate change. Devoting particular attention to the positions of the EU and China in this dispute, it argues that the opposition to EU endeavour finds its roots in the normative frictions between the climate change regime and the international aviation regime, while the lack of process legitimacy of EU unilateralism provoked third countries' claims to the infringement of their national sovereignty. Thus, it concludes that in the current international system, the harmonization of regimes' normative goals and principles must result from a political choice, the absence of which can effectively frustrate the achievement of multilateral cooperation goals. Moreover, in such context, the unilateral imposition of an alternative path involving the other regime members against their consent, to palliate multilateral norm-making, is likely to meet increasingly strong opposition from an increasing number of powerful countries. ; résumé en Chinois, langue de publication: ...

The entry into force, on January 1st, 2012, of the European Union Directive 2008/101/EC extending the European Emission Trading System to domestic and international civil aviation has taken the dispute regarding its legitimacy to unprecedented heights. The choice of the EU legislator to include foreign air carriers and their CO2 emissions that occurred beyond EU airspace infuriated third countries, while the fact that the directive applies the same treatment to all airline operators whatever their nationality met vivid criticism from developing countries, in particular China and India.This paper investigates the reasons why the environmental objective pursued by the EU Aviation ETS does not seem sufficient to render its unilateral adoption acceptable to the international community, despite staging multilateral negotiations and despite the flourishing national transplants of the ETS system in other jurisdictions. Thereby it provides a preliminary assessment of what the current row implies for the global governance of climate change. Devoting particular attention to the positions of the EU and China in this dispute, it argues that the opposition to EU endeavour finds its roots in the normative frictions between the climate change regime and the international aviation regime, while the lack of process legitimacy of EU unilateralism provoked third countries' claims to the infringement of their national sovereignty. Thus, it concludes that in the current international system, the harmonization of regimes' normative goals and principles must result from a political choice, the absence of which can effectively frustrate the achievement of multilateral cooperation goals. Moreover, in such context, the unilateral imposition of an alternative path involving the other regime members against their consent, to palliate multilateral norm-making, is likely to meet increasingly strong opposition from an increasing number of powerful countries. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Since the Asian crisis and with renewed impetus since the adoption of the ASEAN Charter in 2008, ASEAN has proved to be a formidable source of conceptual creativity pertaining to regional integration. While clinging to ASEAN's defining principle of non-interference, as expressed in the treaty of Amity and Cooperation and while maintaining a persisting aversion for any "Europe-like" transfer of national sovereignty to supranational entities, a new language, symbol of a renewed political rhetoric of integration, has emerged. Formulas, such as "visions", "roadmaps", "blueprints", "connectivity", "scorecards" and "soft regionalism" have served to keep a consensual narrative of a voluntary-based integration, while bringing a qualitative change to the initial 'ASEAN way' doctrine. Whereas neo-realists dismiss them as mere artifacts, aimed at maintaining the "delusion" of an Asian integration process, these new concepts and mechanisms, perhaps, encapsulate the dynamics necessary to fulfill the political commitments put forward by ASEAN leaders in the ASEAN Economic Blueprint, to turn ASEAN into a 'single market and production base' and a 'competitive region' but also the longer-term objective of promoting its centrality as a hub for regional integration in East Asia. ; ISSN: 2294-7828 ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Domestic regulatory institutions are essential components of emissions trading systems (ETS). Not only do they shape the ways that markets operate, they also condition the environmental value of the carbon credits they produce. However, the literature on global carbon politics has paid little attention to local ETS regulators. In a decentralized system increasingly based on a noodle bowl of diversified environmental markets, the study of carbon markets must integrate the institutions in which they operate. This article focuses on China, which, due to its size, is both keen to and expected to have a significant impact on the global system of market-based instruments. We examine how China's regulatory institutions have worked to implement the seven ETS pilots launched since 2012, and tease out some implications regarding how China's national ETS may contribute to global climate change governance. In this study, we analyze both formal and informal regulatory institutions, through the practice of local actors. The main finding is that the tension between the state and markets in China's ETS implementation has resulted in a reinforcement of state domination rather than the emergence of robust regulatory institutions. The contribution that the ETS makes to China's emissions reduction is also limited by more pressing environmental and industrial policies that local regulators must prioritize. Local nonregulatory implementation practices could undermine the long-term objective to integrate China's ETS with others under article 6 of the UNFCCC.

Two years after his accession to power, Kim Jong Un continues to pursue his country's foreign policy with the familiar pattern of bellicose rhetoric, cut with the occasional conciliatory gestures. More substantial changes can be seen in the way power is exercised within the top leadership. The country is now increasingly run by a circle of 'family and friends' within a revived Party structure. There are also signs of emerging economic pragmatism, a decrease in the influence of the military within the Central Committee and a revival of the stalled 2002 economic reforms. However, the continued development of North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes ensures that security issues continue to dominate the country's relations with its Northeast Asian neighbours and the United States.This leaves substantial scope for the greater involvement of the European Union (EU). Geographically distant, with no direct security interests and perceived as more independent by Pyongyang, the EU is well placed to engage in a dialogue with the regime when other international actors cannot. As the North Korean leadership begins to slowly reform the economy and attempts to diversify its sources of trade, the EU could use its humanitarian and development assistance in a more strategic way, using it to encourage continued economic reform and (limited) dialogue on human rights. Such a policy would represent a 'carrot' that can run parallel to the 'stick' of international condemnation and sanctions that will continue to be implemented through the UN and by regional powers. ; ISSN: 2294-7828 ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published