AIMS

Set against scientific predictions, current international responses to climate change are widely perceived to be inadequate. There is a growing perception, that many mitigation and adaptation measures have been taken outside the international regime. In this sense governance has become considerably more polycentric, with pockets of dynamism especially evident at the national and subnational levels, but also in the so called transnational sphere. However, there is far less agreement on if and how these innovations can be scaled up, if and indeed how they should be coordinated, and where the necessary leadership to achieve this might originate. To address these gaps, INOGOV:

  1. Identifies ways in which innovative forms of policy and governance for climate change have been stimulated and diffused across time, space and different modes and levels of governing
  2. Builds a stronger evaluation capacity to assess their actual and intended effects and impacts
  3. Shares usable knowledge with network participants to reach a fuller appreciation of what it means to govern climate change more innovatively

It draws together scholars and practitioners within and outside Europe who focus on particular aspects of policy and governance innovation, namely their: ‘sources’; ‘diffusion’; and ‘effects’. By using the full suite of COST networking instruments to explore the inter-relationships between these topics, it is extracting greater value from previous research investments.

OBJECTIVES

1. Integrating the fragmented research landscape

  1. Developing a shared terminology, drawing on a comprehensive review of the existing literature
  2. Identifying, synthesising and exploring the main enablers of and obstacles to policy and governance innovation in relation to mitigation and/or adaptation
  3. Identifying new research gaps and ways to address them (including joint funding proposals), by developing links with experts in and beyond Europe

2. Building new capacity

  1. Involving and where relevant, training early career researchers from different countries and disciplines
  2. Facilitating mobility between countries, by funding visiting fellowships and running training schools

3. Informing policy and governance interventions

  1. Working with stakeholders to develop usable knowledge to inform processes at sub-national, national and international levels, as well as those transnational activities that span national borders

 

INOGOV has a Management Committee (MC) of delegates nominated by their respective COST National Coordinator, who are responsible for overseeing progress towards the Action’s objectives. Each of the 26 member countries in INOGOV has at least one nominated MC Member and one Substitute.