Session One: Framing the Issue of Climate Governance

Event Details

9:45 – 11:45 a.m.

Climate change has conventionally been portrayed as a global challenge necessitating an international governing regime. This was clearly the animating principle behind the Kyoto Protocol more than a decade ago. But the subsequent reality in the United States and abroad has been far more complex, with an unexpectedly large role for sub-national units of governments, such as American states and localities. This experience has also emerged internationally, even among nations ratifying Kyoto. This session will help frame the current climate governance challenge by examining the intergovernmental realities posed by such bottom-up policy development. It will also consider key findings from the 2008 National Survey on American Public Opinion on Climate Change and Policy Options [PDF] commissioned for this event.

Chair
Sidney Milkis, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia

Authors
Martha Derthick, University of Virginia – Evaluating American Federalism

Paul Posner, George Mason University – Regulatory Federalism: Challenges in Integrating State and Federal Responsibilities. Download Powerpoint Presentation.

Christopher Borick, Muhlenberg College – The Climate of Opinion: American Beliefs about Climate Change and Policy Preferences. Download Powerpoint Presentation

Discussants
Anne Khademian, Virginia Tech

Suellen Keiner, State of the USA, Inc.

The National Conference on Climate Governance is made possible by grants from WestWind Foundation; Muhlenberg College; the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy at the University of Michigan's Gerald Ford School of Public Policy; Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation; Altria Group, Inc.; and an anonymous Charlottesville foundation.

Session Two: Regulatory Approaches to Climate Governance

Session Three: Market Approaches to Climate Governance