The Conclusion closes the book by going back to the opening question: given all the complexities entailed in the process, is it realistic to expect the world to be able to decouple economic growth from GHG emissions in time to save the planet, and by avoiding negative repercussions on our economies and societies? The Conclusion first discusses how the economic literature has so far tackled this question – namely presenting degrowth and green growth theories – and then illustrates the authors’ views on this.

In the context of increasing pressure to decisively address the issue of GHG emissions from shipping, this Chapter examines the relevance and fitness for purpose of UNCLOS as a framework for ongoing efforts to tackle this issue. Considering the time when it was negotiated, it should come as no surprise that the Convention makes no express reference to climate change. This does not mean that UNCLOS has no role to play. The Chapter examines the Convention’s definition of ’marine pollution’, general provisions such as Articles 192 and 194 as well as the Convention provisions on flag, coastal and port State jurisdiction. The main conclusion is that UNCLOS is adequately placed to fulfil its designated function as a constitution for the oceans, but its provisions must be complemented by more detailed technical rules. In line with UNCLOS, these measures also need to be systemically integrated with the wider international environmental law framework.

This chapter provides the fundamentals of the relation between energy and climate change, presenting: (i) The scientific evidence that climate change is occurring; (ii) How human use of energy resources contributes to climate change; (iii) How current patterns in global energy use are expected to affect future levels of greenhouse gas emissions. It then outlines the current and expected future impacts of climate change, and presents strategies that can be followed to both mitigate and adapt to the worst expected impacts. To conclude, the chapter discusses the global institutional process to respond to climate, including successes and remaining challenges.

The C40 has made assertive claims with respect to its ability to engender increased engagement, ambition, and scope of climate governance over both time and space. This chapter provides an independent corroboration of these claims, which have to-date been based on internal network data and analysis, by drawing on a novel dataset of over 10,000 climate governance actions adopted by C40 cities between 2001 and 2018. The chapter confirms that the C40 has increased the level of member city engagement, action, and ambition across geographic and economic divides. This renders the C40 distinct from other voluntary city-networks such as ICLEI and is deeply puzzling given the inability of these networks to deploy coercion or hard compliance mechanisms to close the gap between nominal commitments and concrete actions. The chapter concludes by considering three alternative explanations: as a function of economic development; as a function of inter-city learning, and as a function of the efforts of the network bureaucracy. Each is shown to be incomplete, thus demonstrating the need for a novel means of theorizing coordination in city-networks like the C40.