Friedrich: International Environmental “soft law”

Jürgen Friedrich has published International Environmental “soft law”: The Functions and Limits of Nonbinding Instruments in International Environmental Governance and Law (Springer 2013). Here's the abstract:

In international negotiations, the question of the design and the legal form of the negotiated instrument is as complex as it is often controversial. Intended as a read for both practitioners and academics, this book provides a comprehensive treatise of the characteristics, the potential and the limits of nonbinding instruments in international environmental law and governance. An extensive overview and typology of nonbinding instruments as well as several case studies from the areas of fisheries (FAO), hazardous substances (UNEP/FAO) and corporate social responsibility (OECD) provide the material for an in-depth analysis of the role of nonbinding instruments on all levels of governance. The book demonstrates the potential but also highlights the limits of nonbinding instruments in the interplay with customary and treaty law (e.g. UNCLOS, WTO) as bases for interinstitutional linkages and as tools to shape the behaviour of states and private actors. Legitimacy challenges arising from this form of exercise of authority are then discussed in the final chapter, alongside with remedies to address possible concerns.

Green: Rethinking Private Authority: Agents and Entrepreneurs in Global Environmental Governance

Jessica F. Green (Case Western Reserve Univ. - Political Science) has published Rethinking Private Authority: Agents and Entrepreneurs in Global Environmental Governance (Princeton Univ. Press 2013). Here's the abstract:

Rethinking Private Authority examines the role of non-state actors in global environmental politics, arguing that a fuller understanding of their role requires a new way of conceptualizing private authority. Jessica Green identifies two distinct forms of private authority--one in which states delegate authority to private actors, and another in which entrepreneurial actors generate their own rules, persuading others to adopt them.

Drawing on a wealth of empirical evidence spanning a century of environmental rule making, Green shows how the delegation of authority to private actors has played a small but consistent role in multilateral environmental agreements over the past fifty years, largely in the area of treaty implementation. This contrasts with entrepreneurial authority, where most private environmental rules have been created in the past two decades. Green traces how this dynamic and fast-growing form of private authority is becoming increasingly common in areas ranging from organic food to green building practices to sustainable tourism. She persuasively argues that the configuration of state preferences and the existing institutional landscape are paramount to explaining why private authority emerges and assumes the form that it does. In-depth cases on climate change provide evidence for her arguments.

Groundbreaking in scope, Rethinking Private Authority demonstrates that authority in world politics is diffused across multiple levels and diverse actors, and it offers a more complete picture of how private actors are helping to shape our response to today's most pressing environmental problems

Ruppel, Roschmann, & Ruppel-Schlichting: Climate Change: International Law and Global Governance

Oliver C. Ruppel, Christian Roschmann, & Katharina Ruppel-Schlichting have published in two volumes Climate Change: International Law and Global Governance (Nomos 2013). Volume two is here. The tables of contents are here (volume 1/volume 2). Here's the abstract:

The two-volume publication is one of the first attempts to systematically address both international climate change law and global climate change governance. The two-volume publication deals with international law and the multiple regulatory regimes reflecting fragmentation in the absence of a universal climate change regime. International climate change law, global climate governance and diplomacy are interrelated and extremely complex: The publications explore these areas from a variety of doctrinal, transdisciplinary and thematic perspectives.

Volume I assesses the most pressing impacts of climate change on various international law regimes. The main focus lies on international climate change law as a new international law discipline; climate change and human rights; climate change, international trade and investment law; the law of the sea and sea level rise; judicial review and international climate change litigation; other subjects such as mitigation regulation, natural resource management and climate-engineering.

Volume II reflects on the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the most pressing impacts of climate change on international diplomacy and global governance. This is highlighted from various transdisciplinary and geopolitical perspectives with a special focus on the challenge of strengthening national and international climate change policy, sustainable development and increasing equity around the world, which goes beyond the capacity of national governments. Various international climate change cooperation and protection efforts are analysed, also in the context of global security, climate induced migration movements, adaptation and the loss and damage debate.