The Role of Cities in Shaping Transnational Law in Climate Governance
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12365 |
| Date | 01 February 2017 |
| Author | Markus Fraundorfer |
| Published date | 01 February 2017 |
The Role of Cities in Shaping Transnational
Law in Climate Governance
Markus Fraundorfer
University of S~
ao Paulo
Abstract
Today, many human rights norms are promoted and reinforced as transnational law in transnational settings involving a multi-
plicity of state and non-state actors. Over the last few years, debates about constitutionalising a human right to an adequate
environment as a legal instrument to confront the devastating consequences of climate change have steadily grown. While
the role of states and non-state actors from civil society in promoting human rights legislation is widely acknowledged, the
role of cities remains largely unexplored. Cities are major greenhouse gas emitters, profoundly affected by the various conse-
quences of climate change, with more than half of the world population living in urban environments. By providing a brief
overview of the principal activities of the largest city networks on climate action, ICLEI –Local Governments for Sustainability
and the C40 Climate Action Leadership Group –the article argues that cities have turned into crucial actors in shaping and
promoting environmental rights, essentially a human right to an adequate environment.
Policy Implications
•Cities should continue to promote their image as cosmopolitan actors in the global system by reinforcing joint network
activities with private actors, civil society actors, philanthropic foundations and national governments to find local solu-
tions to the global challenge of climate change.
•In shaping the transnational law of environmental rights cities should lead by example and implement ambitious GHG
reduction targets and develop far-reaching tools, standards and methodologies to harmonise climate action in cities
worldwide.
•In the implementation of the Paris Agreement, national governments should rely on cities and their governance networks
as natural partners.
•Heads of state and government should create better channels of communication with mayors and representatives of
major city networks such as ICLEI, C40 or the Compact of Mayors.
Cities –the cosmopolitan actors of the global
system
Do cities play a role in shaping environmental rights as
transnational law? Cities determine our lives and our life-
style, the way we think and the way we act. Fifty-four per
cent of the world population, expected to increase to 66
per cent by 2050, lives in cities or urban areas (UN, 2014, p.
1). The most urbanised regions are Northern America (82
per cent), Latin America and the Caribbean (80 per cent)
and Europe (73 per cent), while China and India will be
responsible for more than one-third of the growth of the
worldwide urban population by 2050 (UN, 2014, pp. 1, 12).
Cities have always been centres of commerce and politics,
technology and innovation, places where new ideas emerge,
new lifestyles develop, and new trends manifest themselves.
Scholars like Sassen (1991, 2002, 2005) have portrayed the
global city as a critical site of information exchange in the
globalised and interconnected world. Smith and Timberlake
(2002, p. 117) defined the world’s great cities as ‘crucial
nodes in the global political economy’. For Curtis (2010, pp.
4–5), cities ‘are linked together through the creation of a
selectively sited digital infrastructure [...] comparable to the
construction of the railways, mass transit systems and
motorways of previous periods’. Cities are ‘ongoing pro-
cesses, comprised of various flows’(Curtis, 2010, p. 10)
wielding significant power.
What is more, over the last few decades cities have built
up a multiplicity of worldwide networks to better coordinate
their actions and together tackle challenges and problems
of a global scale. Networks like United Cities and Local
Governments (UCLG) or ICLEI –Local Governments for Sus-
tainability engage in joint activities to make cities and local
governments around the world more sustainable. The Fast-
Track Cities Initiative brings together cities from all around
the world to tackle HIV/AIDS in urban areas. The EU Com-
mittee of the Regions is the major body of the EU for Euro-
pean local governments to make their interests and needs
heard in the wider institutional framework of the EU. The
National League of Cities represents towns and municipali-
ties in the US and supports these cities to build better com-
munities. As a platform for mayors of US towns and cities to
Global Policy (2017) 8:1 doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12365 ©2016 University of Durham and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Global Policy Volume 8 . Issue 1 . February 2017 23
Research Article
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