As part of the Indian-European Multi-level Climate Governance Research Network (IECGN), the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), VU University Amsterdam, is pleased to announce the Call For Papers for the 2014 Amsterdam Conference “Beyond 2015: Exploring the Future of Global Climate Governance”. The 2014 Amsterdam Conference will be held on 20 November 2014 at De Rode Hoed, Amsterdam.

CONFERENCE THEME:
The international community is currently not on track to meet its global climate change mitigation targets. The emissions gap between the greenhouse gas reduction pledges made by countries party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the mitigation pathway necessary to limit climate change within the range of 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is widening. Acknowledging the need to close this ambition gap, policy makers and academics are discussing additional and alternative measures beyond the top-down, state-dominated targets and timetables approach. Referred to in the academic literature as, inter alia, transnational climate governance initiatives, international cooperative initiatives, climate clubs and networked climate governance, alternative climate governance arrangements are increasingly advocated as concrete solutions to the growing ambitions gap. Against this background, this conference invites papers that scrutinize available options for effective and legitimate climate change governance, both with the formal framework of the UNFCCC and beyond. Topics include, but are not limited to
– Empirical and theoretical assessments of alternative climate governance arrangements (including cities, clubs, international cooperative initiatives as well as transnational, regional and sub-national networks);
– Viable options for breaking the ongoing negotiation deadlock within the UNFCCC context;
– Analyses of the emerging complex climate governance architecture (including the question of fragmentation and the role of orchestration as a strategy);
– Positions and strategies of leading countries and negotiation blocks (i.e. BASIC) with regard to alternative climate governance arrangements.

TIMELINE:
September 30 – Deadline for submission of abstracts
October 15 – Notification of acceptance
November 15 – Deadline for submission of papers
November 20 – 2014 Amsterdam Conference

VENUE:
De Rode Hoed, Keizersgracht 102, 1015 CV Amsterdam
De Rode Hoed, or the Red Hat is located in the historical center of Amsterdam overviewing the Keizersgracht Canal. It is easily accessible from the Amsterdam Central Train Station which offers many train connections to and from the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

HOW TO APPLY:
Early career researchers and PhD students are highly encouraged to submit papers to utilize the platform to get feedback on their work from their peers and from senior researchers, and to explore of the scope of collaborative research in the area. The abstracts (max 300 words) should be submitted as PDF by email to marija.isailovic@vu.nl no later than 30 Sept, 2014.

COSTS FOR ATTENDING:
Please note that no participation fees will be charged. Financial support covering travel, accommodation and meals is only available for IECNG members.

FUNDING:
The conference is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) in partnership with Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) as part of the research grant awarded in 2012-2015 to the Indian-European Multi-level Climate Governance Research Network (IECGN) research partners.

Frank Biermann, Marija Isailovic and Philipp Pattberg, conference chairs

For more information, please click Future_ClimateGovernance_CfP_Amsterdam20November