Contesting Legitimacy in Global Environmental Governance

This research paper examines the contested nature of legitimacy within global environmental governance, specifically focusing on the management of transboundary climate risks (TCRs) within agricultural supply chains.

• The authors argue that legitimacy in global environmental governance is an object of political contestation. Actors utilize different sources of legitimacy to promote their own preferred methods of managing transboundary climate risks, delegitimize alternative approaches, and push their specific visions for governance.
• Based on an analysis of 41 semi-structured interviews regarding the Brazilian-German coffee supply-chain, the authors identified five distinct governance pathways for managing transboundary climate risks. Each pathway is supported by a different operationalization of legitimacy, and these pathways can co-exist, although their relative importance varies by context.
• The increasing interconnection of people, ecosystems, and economies has expanded the scope of global environmental governance. In the context of climate change, there is a growing understanding that climate risks are transboundary, meaning they cross international borders similarly to capital, goods, and people, which leads to various state and non-state actors claiming responsibility or a right to be involved in governance.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2023). Contesting Legitimacy in Global Environmental Governance. https://www.sei.org/publications/contesting-legitimacy-in-global-environmental-governance/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Contesting Legitimacy in Global Environmental Governance. 2023. https://www.sei.org/publications/contesting-legitimacy-in-global-environmental-governance/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Contesting Legitimacy in Global Environmental Governance |date=3 February 2023 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/contesting-legitimacy-in-global-environmental-governance/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2023contesting, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Contesting Legitimacy in Global Environmental Governance}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/contesting-legitimacy-in-global-environmental-governance/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }