The paper “The Path of Energy Transition? The role of the actors and private interests amid the polycentric governance of the climate,” by the BRICS Policy Center, was published in full on May 28. The work is divided into four parts: brief background about the transformations taking place within the context of the environmental regimes; analysis of two platforms of energy cooperation (Coalition For Action and Sustainable Energy for All) with relevant roles in the context of the Conferences of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations; mapping of the profile of the private stakeholders belonging to these two groups based on their main interests (environmental, economic and social); and, lastly, the initiatives recorded by the actors approached in the paper in the Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action (NAZCA), which is a virtual platform that seeks to accelerate the contributions of non-state actors to achieve the targets of the climate regime.
“This article has the objective to analyze the role of private actors from the energy sector in the governance of the climate. The contribution of these actors is indicated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as being fundamental in achieving the objective of the Paris Agreement of limiting the increase of the temperature of the planet. An analysis was made of the speeches and the initiatives of these actors with respect to combating climate change and the transition to a more sustainable energy matrix. Some questions were also raised about the efficacy and the legitimacy of this new model of decentralized governance. It is hoped that these indications will result in debates about how this new governance format – still under construction – could be improved, in order to guarantee greater transparency, representativeness and commitment by the actors involved.” – Beatriz Mattos, researcher of the Socioambiental Platform and PhD student at the Institute of Internactional Relations of PUC-Rio.