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Reframing the climate debate : the origins and diffusion of net zero pledges
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Van Coppenolle, Hermine, Blondeel, Mathieu and Van de Graaf, Thijs (2023) Reframing the climate debate : the origins and diffusion of net zero pledges. Global Policy, 14 (1). pp. 48-60. doi:10.1111/1758-5899.13161 ISSN 1758-5899.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13161
Abstract
Achieving net zero emissions has rapidly become the dominant long-term objective guiding national climate policies. At the end of 2018, only 24 countries were considering or had adopted long-term net zero targets. By the end of 2021, this had climbed to almost 150 countries, covering 89 per cent of global carbon emissions. In this article, we trace the origins and diffusion of net zero pledges through the lens of international norm theory. Drawing on a newly compiled database of national net zero targets, our analysis highlights the critical role played by climate scientists, transnational advocacy networks, and norm entrepreneurs in articulating the norm of net zero emissions. The IPCC's fifth assessment report was foundational, by introducing the concept of a cumulative carbon budget, allowing translation of abstract temperature goals into more actionable net zero targets. The norm of net zero has been institutionalised at the global political level in the period 2015–2018 and cascaded through the international system in 2019–2020. Yet, it remains subject to various forms of contestation, most notably regarding validity, fairness, scope, and implementation. The norm is now at a critical stage in its lifecycle that will decide whether it gets institutionalised or suffers backsliding and even erosion.
Item Type: | Journal Article | |||||||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QC Physics | |||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Strategy & International Business Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Climatic changes -- Political aspects, Climatic changes -- Government policy, Carbon sequestration, Greenhouse gas mitigation, Global warming -- Prevention -- Government policy | |||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Global Policy | |||||||||
Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. | |||||||||
ISSN: | 1758-5899 | |||||||||
Official Date: | February 2023 | |||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 14 | |||||||||
Number: | 1 | |||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 48-60 | |||||||||
DOI: | 10.1111/1758-5899.13161 | |||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | |||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | |||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | |||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 22 November 2022 | |||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 22 November 2022 | |||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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