Environmental governance and its impact on addressing climate change

Abstract

With the increasing risks resulting from climate change, countries and international organizations have sought to confront and mitigate these risks by identifying their causes and holding states, companies, and all relevant stakeholders accountable for preserving the Earth’s climate. While this calls for a more humane approach to the development and stewardship of the planet, it also necessitates confronting those responsible for environmental harm by holding them accountable on the basis of the human right to a safe environment.

Amid the pursuit of the desired balance between competing considerations, and in light of concepts that have asserted themselves in today’s world—most notably the concept of governance, which has established itself across various fields, including the transnational sphere—environmental governance has emerged as an idea prompted by the duty to protect the environment. Accordingly, the development of the Earth must be prudent and responsible, which requires revitalizing the principle of accountability toward those who have deviated from this path under the banner of “transnational governance.” This governance framework obliges—at least as it ought to—those responsible for environmental damage, particularly companies, to safeguard the environment. This, in turn, requires first and foremost that their practices be transparent so that they can be evaluated and subsequently reformed, thereby making the concept of sustainable development a realizable objective.