CLIMATE CHANGE GOVERNANCE AND PRIVATE DIPLOMACY: Interventions from Nordic Corporate Funded Think Tanks

One of the most pressing questions regarding the emerging global climate change regime concerns how and under what conditions non-state diplomacy matters.

This project studies how corporate funded Nordic think tanks, such as Pathway Coalition in Sweden, Skift in Norway, Concito from Denmark, and Finnish Climate Leadership Coalition construct and shape “private diplomacy”. How and by what measures are they partaking in and contributing to climate change negotiations?

A key concern of the project regards the social and symbolic forms of capital that such actors draw upon in their struggles over meaning of key assumptions and impact within the regime.

The project is led by Adrienne Sörbom, in close cooperation with Christina Garsten, Ulrik Jennische and Mikael Karlsson. The group has previously followed transnational think tanks in global governance, and climate policymaking.

As corporate funded Nordic think tanks are active also in climate change negotiations the group will interview and shadow the work of these actors in relation to the UNFCCC and COP-meetings.

Their practices are exemplar of the contradictions between transparency and accountability on the one hand, and efficiency of secluded diplomacy on the other that underlie the emerging climate change regime.

There is therefore great need for understanding better if, when and how corporate funded private climate change diplomacy may – or may not – be an efficient way for climate change mitigation or adaptation.