Turning Words into Action

One of the biggest challenges in global environmental governance is to hold governments to account for the pledges they have made and the agreements they have signed up to. IEF members Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen and Arthur Lyon Dahl have just published a paper on this issue: "Turning Words into Action: Designing Accountability Mechanisms with Impact for Multilateral Environmental Agreements" in the journal Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations, 31(3):375-388, 26 August 2025 https://doi.org/10.1163/19426720-03103006.

States join many multilateral environmental agreements, but lack of enforcement hinders their effectiveness and implementation. Even when science shows the gravity of the environmental degradation and solutions are available, the political will is lacking. When trust is lacking, accountability mechanisms can help establish trust. This Global Forum brief offers insights into the conditions under which accountability mechanisms can strengthen the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements, depending on whether states are driven by power, interest, identity, practice, or lack of capacity. We explore accountability mechanisms that in their design enable learning on how to address complex problems, as well as building capacity for addressing them, including shared, broad, and dynamic accountability. Recommendations are offered for two categories of impactful accountability mechanisms: those aimed at creating incentives and those aimed at enabling learning. Both are relatively easy wins, yet they are likely to face substantial resistance from states concerned about the erosion of their power and sovereignty. [from the abstract]

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