Regimes, a conceptual lense

We examine the connections and contradictions in current environmental regime-making. In doing so, we understand environmental regimes as the formal and informal rules, norms, principles, institutional architectures, technologies and networks that emerge and evolve to govern multi-scalar environmental and sustainability challenges.

We develop knowledge and methods that contribute to reflexive environmental and sustainability governance through and of regimes. By reflexive, we understand anticipating and responding to the various environmental and societal effects of environmental regimes, with the aim of creating sustainable and equitable outcomes.

Questions we ask

What happens to highly institutionalised state-based governance in an uneven and unstable globalised world?

What environmental regimes and world orders are being reshaped in the face of such instability?

What does this mean for environmental governance, including for dimensions of effectiveness, equity, transparency, and anticipation?

And in what ways can environmental regimes be transformed to be strengthened on these dimensions?