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A road map for global environmental assessments

Nature Climate Change volume 7, pages 379–382 (2017)Cite this article

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Increasing demand for solution-oriented environmental assessments brings significant opportunities and challenges at the science–policy–society interface. Solution-oriented assessments should enable inclusive deliberative learning processes about policy alternatives and their practical consequences.

More than 140 global environmental assessments (GEAs) have been initiated over the past four decades1. There is ongoing demand for these diverse, large-scale, multi-stakeholder, typically intergovernmental processes that distil and synthesize knowledge to inform decision-making. GEAs are time-consuming, demanding processes often facing institutional and political constraints. Nevertheless, compared with alternative science–policy–society interfaces, well-designed GEAs have higher potential for legitimacy, governmental buy-in and generating credible syntheses across disciplines and approaches2,3,4, particularly regarding 'wicked problems'5. GEAs have provoked and sometimes even shaped international negotiations2. For example, the assessments of the IPCC informed and catalysed support for the Paris Agreement5, and the fifth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-5) assessment influenced the 2030 Development Agenda6.

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Figure 1: Various actor groups demand more solution-oriented IPCC assessments.
Figure 2: Rapid growth of annual publications on 'climate change'.

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Acknowledgements

The insights presented here are based on a larger research project Future of Global Environmental Assessment Making (2013–2016) jointly initiated by the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change and UN Environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change, EUREF-Campus 19, Berlin, 10829, Germany

    Martin Kowarsch, Christian Flachsland, Jan C. Minx, Jennifer Garard, Christoph von Stechow & Ottmar Edenhofer

  2. UN Environment, North America Office, 900 17th Street, NW, Suite 506, 20006, Washington, DC, USA

    Jason Jabbour

  3. Hertie School of Governance, Friedrichstraße 180, Berlin, 10117, Germany

    Christian Flachsland & Jan C. Minx

  4. PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, PO Box 303, Bilthoven, 3720 AH, Netherlands

    Marcel T. J. Kok

  5. Tyndall Centre University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, Norfolk, UK

    Robert Watson

  6. Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Platz der Vereinten Nationen 1, Bonn, 53113, Germany

    Robert Watson

  7. University of Massachusetts Amherst, 216 Thompson Hall, Amherst, 01003, USA

    Peter M. Haas

  8. Center for Environmental Systems Research University of Kassel, Wilhelmshöher Allee 47, Kassel, 34109, Germany

    Joseph Alcamo

  9. Technical University Berlin, Strasse des 17. Juni 135, Berlin, 10623, Germany

    Jennifer Garard & Ottmar Edenhofer

  10. Institute for Ecological Economy Research, Potsdamer Straße 105, Berlin, 10785, Germany

    Pauline Riousset

  11. Central European University, Nador u. 9, Budapest, 1051, Hungary

    László Pintér

  12. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 111 Lombard Avenue, Suite 325, Winnipeg, R3B 0T4, Canada

    László Pintér

  13. University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9EF, UK

    Cameron Langford

  14. University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 111, Joensuu, 80101, Finland

    Yulia Yamineva

  15. Indiana University, 355 North Jordan Avenue, Bloomington, 47405, Indiana, USA

    Jessica O'Reilly

  16. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Telegraphenberg A 31, Potsdam, 14473, Germany

    Ottmar Edenhofer

Authors
  1. Martin Kowarsch
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  2. Jason Jabbour
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  3. Christian Flachsland
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  4. Marcel T. J. Kok
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  6. Peter M. Haas
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  7. Jan C. Minx
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  8. Joseph Alcamo
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  9. Jennifer Garard
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  10. Pauline Riousset
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  11. László Pintér
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  12. Cameron Langford
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  13. Yulia Yamineva
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  14. Christoph von Stechow
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  15. Jessica O'Reilly
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  16. Ottmar Edenhofer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martin Kowarsch.

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Kowarsch, M., Jabbour, J., Flachsland, C. et al. A road map for global environmental assessments. Nature Clim Change 7, 379–382 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3307

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