*Miss the event? Watch the webcast here.*
Illustration by Sébastien Thibault
Event Description:
From November 30 to December 11, 2015, representatives from more than 190 states and countless civil society organizations meet in Paris for the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Climate Change Convention. After more than 20 years of climate negotiations, did the Paris meeting succeed in delivering a universal agreement to keep global warming in check? This expert roundtable hosted jointly by the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and the Munk School of Global Affairs assesses the Paris outcome and the future of the global climate regime.
Participants:
Moderator: Brian Stewart, Munk School of Global Affairs
Jutta Brunnée (Faculty of Law): Is the Paris outcome a legally binding agreement, and does it matter? What should we make of states’ 'nationally determined contributions' to reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Read Prof. Brunnée's commentary in the Globe and Mail: "Let Paris be the moment we confronted two global threats"
Steven Bernstein (Department of Political Science): What were the negotiation dynamics between developed and developing countries, and how did ‘South/North’ issues manifest themselves in the Paris outcome?
Matthew Hoffmann (Department of Political Science): Transnational vs. multilateral: How to navigate 'main events' (inter-state negotiations) and 'side-events' (various stakeholders and experts) at the Paris summit?
Keith Stewart (Greenpeace Canada, and instructor, School for the Environment): Experts, nudges, watchdogs? What roles do civil society groups play in global climate negotiations and governance?
Silvia Maciunas (Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development): What comes next (e.g. implementation; accountability; ratcheting up commitments)?
VENUE CHANGE:
Event Location: Vivian and David Campbell Conference Facility, South House
Munk School of Global Affairs, 1 Devonshire Place
Time: Wednesday, December 16, 2015, 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Speaker Bios:
Steven Bernstein is Professor, Associate Chair and Graduate Director, Department of Political Science and Co-Director of the Environmental Governance Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. His academic publications span the areas of global governance, global environmental and sustainability politics, international political economy, and international institutions. He is also a lead faculty member of the Earth Systems Governance Project and has consulted on institutional reform for the United Nations. Current major research projects include: “Coherence and Incoherence in Global Sustainable Development Governance” (with Erin Hannah), and “Transformative Policy Pathways Towards Decarbonization” (with Matthew Hoffmann).
Jutta Brunnée is Professor of Law and Metcalf Chair in Environmental Law at University of Toronto. She is co-author of the award-winning Legitimacy and Legality in International Law: An Interactional Account (Cambridge University Press, 2010), and co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law (Oxford University Press 2007), as well as author of numerous books and articles on topics of international environmental law and international law. In 1998-99, Professor Brunnée was the Scholar-in-Residence in the Legal Bureau of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, advising, inter alia, on matters under the Climate Change Convention. She serves on the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2013.
Matthew Hoffmann is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto Scarborough and Co-Director of the Environmental Governance Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs. He is the author of Climate Governance at the Crossroads: Experimenting with a Global Response after Kyoto and Ozone Depletion and Climate Change: Constructing a Global Response. He also is a co-author on a recent collaborative book Transnational Climate Change Governance. His current collaborative research project explores the development of Political Pathways to Decarbonization.
Silvia Maciunas is Deputy Director, Environmental Law Section, Oceans and Environmental Law Division, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development. A former diplomat, she's an expert in international environmental law.
Brian Stewart is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Munk School of Global Affairs and one of Canada’s most respected foreign correspondents.Over a long career, he has covered many of the world’s conflicts and reported from 10 war zones.
Keith Stewart leads Greenpeace Canada’s climate and energy campaign, as well as a part-time faculty member at the University of Toronto where he teaches a course on Energy Policy and the Environment. He has worked as an energy policy analyst and advocate for the last 16 years, including on successful campaigns to phase out coal-fired power plants and enact a Green Energy Act in Ontario. His work at Greenpeace is focused on stopping the expansion of the tar sands and promoting an Energy [R]evolution that will get Canada and the world off of fossil fuels by building an equitable and sustainable energy system based on the efficient use of renewable energy.
