International cooperation on effective responses to climate change has increased in urgency during the last years and has gained even more attention after the adoption of the Paris Climate Change Agreement in December 2015. The United Nations Framework Convention (UNFCCC) has been the negotiating institution behind last years’ climate talks and has triggered negotiations during parties of the convention and other stakeholders. Part of its treaty includes Article 6 of the convention, named Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) highlighting the elements education, training, public awareness, public access to information, public participation and international cooperation.
The thesis aims to analyze the role of ACE under the UNFCCC and its implications on Global Climate Governance. The continuous fragmentation of Global Climate Governance calls for strong guidance to unite all stakeholders of the UNFCCC and on ACE in order to implement multi-level climate solutions. Seeking to highlight past developments, current circumstances and future recommendations on ACE, the different roles of stakeholders, activities and structures are being illustrated in this study. So far, International Relation scholars have only conducted studies on the role of the UNFCCC on Global Climate Governance and only certain elements of ACE have been part of scientific research, which does not stand in relation to the evaluation of current processes after the adoption of the Paris Agreement.
Therefore qualitative research methods have been applied, including primary as well as secondary sources. Besides relevant books, academic journals, reviews and the website of the UNFCCC, also legislative documents such as the Doha Work Programme on Article 6 of the convention or reports conducted by the UNFCCC secretariat and the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) of parties have been consulted. Additionally, semi-structured individual face-to-face interviews have been conducted to reinforce research results and to strengthen the practical validity on the matter. Five interviews have been prepared, conducted and the information gained evaluated to draw conclusions. Further constraints on ACE have been identified through evaluation of the INDCs and outlined gaps and barriers to consider recommendations on the programme’s international implementation.
Although ACE has enjoyed increasing attention, it is still not appropriately considered on the national and sub-national scale of some countries. Barriers and challenges still exist which hamper a successful implementation of ACE elements on community level. Especially developing countries sometimes still lack sufficient funding and technology, educated citizenry, a stable political system, peace and cooperation within the countries’ ministries. The thesis comes to the conclusion that the secretariat working on ACE still needs to pursue a strengthened effort on both a top-down and a bottom-up approach as well as efficient facilitation and implementation of technical and financial strategies regarding the exchange between developed with developing countries.