Background

About the Better Climate Governance Project

The Better Climate Governance Network is a space to think creatively about the way forward for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meetings and the implementation of the Paris Agreement into the 2020s. We focus on the UNFCCC as the central forum to address climate change on the international level with its links to the (sub)national levels through the parties (countries) and non-national actors. 

Our mission is to engage in open conversations and discussions about improving climate change governance within the UNFCCC negotiations. We are moving towards a concluding phase for negotiating in the UNFCCC and into the deep end of implementing the Paris Agreement, to explore avenues for mutual learning and capacity building between national governments and non-national actors for the effective implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions and stepping up climate action.

How this project came about

Dr. Katharine Rietig and Christine Peringer JD met at the SB50 UNFCCC meetings in Bonn in June 2019. Katharine is a Professor at Newcastle University (UK) and has observed and written about UNFCCC negotiations since 2009. Christine is a professional group facilitation and mediation consultant and has facilitated multi-party consensus-building processes for two decades.  She is also a member of the Climate Change Project of Mediators Beyond Borders International.

They decided to work together to bring their expertise to the question of how to improve climate change negotiations and support more effective movement toward achieving the Paris Agreement goals. In Spring 2020, Dr Sarina Theys conducted a literature search for the project. In Fall 2020, Jecel Censoro joined the team as the project coordinator. 

The launch of this project was funded by the United Kingdom Research and Innovation/ Economic and Social Research Council (Impact Accelerator Account). Funding for this project has been gratefully received from these sources:

  • United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI)/Economics and Social Research Council (Impact Accelerator Account)
  • The British Academy
  • Newcastle University