Global environmental crises are multiplying, accelerating, and expanding across the world. Temperature increases have exceeded the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C threshold in 2024, and heat-related mortality has spiked by 61% since 2000 (Hausfather 2024; IEA 2021). Sea levels have risen twice as fast since 2014 as in the final decade of last century, and total flood damages are projected to increase by 2–3 times by the end of this century (WMO 2024; IPCC 2019a). Nearly 2 billion people depend on the Himalayan glaciers for their water and food security, and these are due to lose three-quarters of their ice by 2100 (ICIMOD 2023). Ecosystem destruction compounds these threats, curbing resilience, mitigation potential, and adaptive capacity. The loss of 85% of wetlands and half of coral reefs erodes flood protection, fish stocks, water resources, and carbon sequestration, for instance (IPBES 2019; McSweeney and Tandon, 2024).
Meanwhile, global greenhouse gas emissions have doubled and plastic pollution has skyrocketed tenfold since 1980, and air pollution kills 7 million people every year (IPBES 2019). Fossil fuels still account for 80% of the world’s energy, and their use continues to rise annually (Igini 2024; The Economist 2024). Unsustainable agricultural production has contributed to the conversion of 70% of all grassland and accounts for 90% of tropical deforestation (Hanson and Ranganathan 2023; FAO 2021). The risks and adverse impacts are concentrated among the most marginalized, and the human costs of inaction are steep. Climate change risks will plunge 68 million–135 million people into poverty by 2030, causing 250,000 additional deaths per year between 2030 and 2050 and reducing global gross domestic product by 7.6% by 2070 (ADB 2024; Deloitte 2022; United Nations 2022; World Bank 2020).
The Value and Contribution of Think Tanks to Global Environmental Governance
To effectively address these interconnected challenges, an innovative, long-term, and comprehensive outlook is required. This involves building a robust evidence base for environmental action, forging institutionalized collaboration among diverse stakeholders and building technical capacity and skills for policymakers. Think tanks are vital in each of these three functions, which together form a “knowledge ecology” designed to improve global environmental governance and drive the sustainability transformation (Sonobe et al. 2023; Stephenson 2023). Think tanks serve as concentration points for data and research, which is particularly essential given the technical complexity of global environmental challenges (OECD 2021). These institutions offer platforms for the exchange of insights and experiences across national borders, academic disciplines, policy areas, and economic sectors (Sonobe 2024). They are vital for effectively addressing the transversal impacts of environmental challenges and mobilizing the many stakeholders involved in the green transition.
Think tanks also bridge the interface between knowledge and policy by raising awareness and building understanding among policymakers and the public, providing the research and analysis needed to meaningfully address environmental challenges, and contributing to the development of effective governance frameworks, financing instruments, and policy approaches for the sustainability transformation (Ruser 2018; Littoz-Monnet 2017). The knowledge ecology is particularly essential for emerging economies in the Global South, which face steeper resource constraints, more limited institutional capacity, and more restricted access to data and insights than advanced economies (Stephenson 2023; ADBI 2023; de Boer 2015).
Evidence: Distilling Complexity and Strengthening the Evidence Base
Think tanks are vital in building and fortifying the evidence base that underpins global environmental policymaking. They play a central role in producing the large-scale integrated assessment models, shared socioeconomic pathways, and energy-environment-economy models that create a common framework for multilateral dialogue, a scientific basis for navigating environmental risk and uncertainty, and a set of projections to gauge the impacts of various future scenarios and policy approaches (UNFCCC 2024a; Ruser 2018). More broadly, they bridge the interface between science and policy, a connection that has been institutionalized this year through the Scientific Council of the COP29 Presidency, for instance (UNFCCC 2024b).
Think tanks are aggregators of data and information, regularly producing consolidated reports that guide policymakers’ considerations and decision-making. For example, the International Energy Agency (IEA) serves as a key hub for energy data and policy-relevant insights and recently opened an office in Singapore to lend further support to the green transition in Asia and the Pacific (IEA 2024). Think tanks also play a crucial role in monitoring, tracking, and evaluating environmental performance and in proposing policy recommendations for improvement. A consortia of think tanks underpin the Climate Action Tracker (CAT), which benchmarks country progress in tackling climate change and prompts them to increase their ambition (CAT 2024).
Engagement: Convening Platforms for Multistakeholder Collaboration
Think tanks provide essential platforms for multistakeholder collaboration, convening and building coalitions among government officials, private sector actors, technical experts, and international policymakers. This forges common understanding and mutual trust, catalyzes the combined strengths of those involved, enables coordinated responses to shared challenges, and advances “track two” diplomacy among working-level officials (Sonobe et al. 2023; Littoz-Monnet 2017). Multistakeholder collaboration is sometimes inscribed within the institutional architecture of think tanks themselves. For example, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) brings together academic experts in its staff, affiliated members from government agencies, nongovernment organizations, and private companies, and international partnerships and regional collaboration centers with UNEP and the UNFCCC (IGES 2024a; 2024b).
Think tanks are also enmeshed in the multidisciplinary, intersectoral networks of experts that inform global environmental policymaking. Many of their personnel contribute to the working groups and annual reports emanating from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which bring together hundreds of experts from 195 countries across the globe (IPCC 2019b; IPBES 2019; McSweeney 2018). The geographical coverage and substantive scope of several think tanks are also expanding to produce tailored insights and strengthen local partnerships. The World Resources Institute (WRI) works with governments, businesses, and civil society to conduct research and implement more than 100 projects across the globe, with 1,900 staff in eight offices covering a diverse range of environmental topics (WRI 2024a; 2024b).
Expertise: Think Tanks as Vehicles for Transmitting Knowledge and Building Capacity, Skills, and Expertise
Think tanks also act as vehicles for capacity building and training. This involves developing and delivering technical assistance, diffusing policy insights, organizing workshops and educational programs, and equipping policymakers with the knowledge and skills to craft environmentally resilient strategies and approaches (Littoz-Monnet 2017; Ruser 2018).
The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) delivers training to policymakers in Southeast Asia through its Capacity Building for Inclusive Climate Finance project, which is designed to enhance access to funds (SEI 2024). The United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) develops and delivers a suite of post-graduate programs on global environmental governance, water management, biodiversity and ecosystems, and climate education and awareness (UNU-IAS 2024). These are aligned with the objectives and institutional architecture of the United Nations system. Throughout COP29, ADBI delivered a series of capacity building initiatives on climate finance and technologies, the role of underrepresented groups and the environmental challenges facing vulnerable countries, and the influence of think tanks in global environmental governance itself (ADBI 2024a). More broadly, a third of the organization’s capacity building and training initiatives are now devoted to the sustainability transformation, including most recently the OECD-AMRO-ADB-ADBI-ERIA 12th Asian Regional Roundtable on New Frontiers: Policies for Climate-Resilient and Carbon-Neutral Economies in Asia (ADBI 2024b).
The Road Ahead
Given the substantial and enduring gaps between stated environmental commitments and current policies, between pledged financial support and environmental need, and between the existential imperative to accelerate the green transition and the incremental pace of progress, the role of think tanks will continue to prove critical in the years ahead. The knowledge ecology and the think tanks that comprise it can help make the case for ambitious approaches, reconcile various perspectives through multistakeholder networks, and improve policymakers’ capacity to effectively manage global environmental challenges.
Going forward, strengthening the interface between analytical evidence and policymaking, reinforcing the connective tissue between actors and institutions, and providing tailored, practical, and innovative sustainability solutions will be essential in upgrading the role of think tanks.
References
Asian Development Bank (ADB). 2024. Asia-Pacific Climate Report 2024: Catalyzing Finance and Policy Solutions. https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/1008086/asia-pacific-climate-report-2024.pdf
Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). 2024a. Asian Development Bank Institute and COP29. https://www.adb.org/adbi/cop29
Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). 2024b. OECD-AMRO-ADB-ADBI-ERIA 12th Asian Regional Roundtable on New Frontiers: Policies for Climate-Resilient and Carbon-Neutral Economies in Asia. 5–6 December. https://www.adb.org/news/events/oecd-amro-adb-adbi-eria-12th-asian-regional-roundtable-on-new-frontiers-policies-for-climate-resilient-and-carbon-neutral-economies-in-asia
Climate Action Tracker (CAT). The Consortium. https://climateactiontracker.org/about/the-consortium/
Deloitte. 2022. Deloitte Research Reveals Inaction on Climate Change Could Cost the World’s Economy US$178 Trillion by 2070. 23 May. https://www.deloitte.com/global/en/about/press-room/deloitte-research-reveals-inaction-on-climate-change-could-cost-the-world-economy-us-dollar-178-trillion-by-2070.html
Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). 2021. COP26: Agricultural Expansion Drives Almost 90 Percent of Global Deforestation. https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/cop26-agricultural-expansion-drives-almost-90-percent-of-global-deforestation/en
Hanson, C., and J. Ranganathan. 2023. How to Manage the Global Land Squeeze? Produce, Protect, Reduce, Restore. World Resources Institute. https://www.wri.org/insights/manage-global-land-squeeze-produce-protect-reduce-restore
Hausfather, Z. 2024. State of the Climate: 2024 Will Be First Year Above 1.5C of Global Warming. Carbon Brief, 7 November. https://www.carbonbrief.org/state-of-the-climate-2024-will-be-first-year-above-1-5c-of-global-warming/
Igini, M. 2024. Fossil Fuels Accounted for 82% of Global Energy Mix in 2023 Amid Record Consumption: Report.
https://earth.org/fossil-fuel-accounted-for-82-of-global-energy-mix-in-2023-amid-record-consumption-report/#:~:text=Fossil%20Fuels%20Accounted%20for%2082,2023%20Amid%20Record%20Consumption%3A%20Report&text=Global%20primary%20energy%20consumption%20hit,coal%20dominating%20the%20energy%20mix
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). 2024a. About IGES. https://www.iges.or.jp/en/about
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). 2024b. Affiliate Memberships/Contribution. https://www.iges.or.jp/en/about/support
Intergovernmental Panel for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). 2019. Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Summary for Policymakers. https://www.ipbes.net/global-assessment
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2019a. Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2019b. AR6 – Mitigation of Climate Change (AR6-WG3). https://apps.ipcc.ch/report/authors/report.authors.php?q=37&p=
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). 2023. Water, Ice, Society, Ecosystems in the Hindu Kush Himalaya. https://hkh.icimod.org/hi-wise/
International Energy Agency (IEA). 2021. Sustainable, Affordable Cooling Can Save Tens of Thousands of Lives Each Year. https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/0691524e-7faa-4241-b002-055d4c0210ec/Sustainable%2CAffordableCoolingCanSaveTensofThousandsofLivesEachYear.pdf
International Energy Agency (IEA). 2024. IEA Sets Up New Office in Singapore to Strengthen Energy Collaboration in Southeast Asia. https://www.iea.org/news/iea-sets-up-new-office-in-singapore-to-strengthen-energy-collaboration-in-southeast-asia
International Monetary Fund (IMF). 2021. Linking Climate and Inequality. Finance and Development. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2021/09/climate-change-and-inequality-guivarch-mejean-taconet
Littoz-Monnet, A. 2017. The Politics of Expertise in International Organizations: How International Bureaucracies Produce and Mobilize Knowledge. Routledge.
McSweeney, R. 2018. Analysis: The Gender, Nationality and Institution of IPCC AR6 Scientists. Carbon Brief. https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-gender-nationality-institution-ipcc-ar6-authors/
McSweeney, R., and A. Tandon. 2024. Mapped: How Climate Change Affects Extreme Weather Around the World. Carbon Brief. https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/attribution-studies/index.html
Observer Research Foundation (ORF). 2023. Annual Report. https://www.orfonline.org/public/uploads/posts/pdf/20240603155101.pdf
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 2021. Compendium of International Organisations’ Practices: Working Towards More Effective International Instruments. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/compendium-of-international-organisations-practices_846a5fa0-en.html
Ritchie, H. 2021. Deforestation and Forest Loss. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/deforestation#article-citation
Sonobe, T. 2024. Think Tanks Can Help Expedite Climate Solutions. Nikkei Asia, 10 November. https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Think-tanks-can-help-expedite-climate-solutions
Sonobe, T., N. Buchoud, R. Akbar, R. M. Qibthiyyah, and B. Altansukh. 2023. A World in Crisis, a World in Progress. ADBI. https://www.adb.org/publications/a-world-in-crisis-a-world-in-progress
Stephenson, P. 2023. Climate Finance Accountability and Think Tanks in the Global South: Six Opportunities. On Think Tanks (OTT), 29 August. https://onthinktanks.org/articles/climate-finance-accountability-and-think-tanks-in-the-global-south-six-opportunities/
United Nations. 2024. Five Ways the Climate Crisis Impacts Human Security. https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/climate-issues/human-security#:~:text=A%20World%20Bank%20report%20estimated,inequity%20and%20widening%20the%20gap.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 2024a. Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) and Energy-Environment-Economy Models. https://unfccc.int/topics/mitigation/workstreams/response-measures/modelling-tools-to-assess-the-impact-of-the-implementation-of-response-measures/integrated-assessment-models-iams-and-energy-environment-economy-e3-models#:~:text=The%20Integrated%20Assessment%20Consortium%20(IAMC,integrated%20assessment%20modeling%20and%20analysis.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 2024b. The Scientific Council of COP29 Presidency. https://cop29.az/en/pages/the-scientific-council-of-cop29-presidency
United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). 2024. About, https://unu.edu/ias/about-unu-ias
World Bank. 2020. Global Action Urgently Needed to Halt Historic Threats to Poverty Reduction. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2020/10/07/global-action-urgently-needed-to-halt-historic-threats-to-poverty-reduction
World Meterological Organization (WMO). 2024a. 2024 Is on Track to Be Hottest Year on Record as Warming Temporarily Hits 1.5°C. https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/2024-track-be-hottest-year-record-warming-temporarily-hits-15degc
World Resources Institute (WRI). 2024a. Initiatives. https://www.wri.org/initiatives
World Resources Institute (WRI). 2024a. 2024b. Our Work. https://www.wri.org/our-work?_gl=1*7vkr1o*_up*MQ..*_gs*MQ..&gclid=CjwKCAiA0rW6BhAcEiwAQH28IlS9jecXiBx988U9cMiHPXRX32nfYQCoL9gpBuJ6W2ewRS9coj_K0hoCOGAQAvD_BwE
No comments yet.