This collection is the outcome of an interdisciplinary research project involving scholars in international and comparative environmental law, the sociology and politics of global governance, and the scientific study of global climate change. Rather than one overarching organisation, a system of multilevel institutions is advocated. The proper role of industrial self-regulation, regional integration, and improved coordination between international environmental organisations is discussed, as well as basic principles for sustainable use of resources. Addressing both academics and politicians, this book will stimulate the debate about the means of improving global governance.

List of contributors; Introduction Gerd Winter; Part I. Earth System Analysis: 1. Dimensions and mechanisms of global climate change Peter Lemke; 2. Global climate change - what can we learn from the past? Stefan Rahmstorf; Part II. Society and Institutions of Global Environmental Change: 3. The social embeddedness of global environmental governance Karl-Werner Brand and Fritz Reusswig; 4. Globalising a green civil society Asher Alkoby; Part III. Self-Regulation of Industry and the Law: 5. Private authority, global governance and the law Martin Herberg; 6. Responsibility of transnational corporations in international environmental law: three perspectives André Nollkaemper; 7. Transboundary corporate responsibility in environmental matters: fragments and foundations for a future framework Jonas Ebbesson; 8. The diffusion of environmental policy innovations Kerstin Tews; 9. Process related measures and global environmental governance Christian Tietje; 10. The impact of the U.S.A. on regime formation and implementation Thomas Giegerich; 11. Transnational bureaucracy networks, a resource of global environmental governance? Michael Warning; 12. The EU - a regional model? Ludwig Kraemer; 13. Transition and governance: the case of post-Communist states Stephen Stec, Alexios Antypas and Tamara Steger; 14. Multilateral environmental agreements and the compliance continuum Jutta Brunnée; 15. On clustering international environmental agreements Konrad von Moltke; 16. Institutions, knowledge and change: findings from the quantitative study of environmental regimes Helmut Breitmeier; 17. Regulatory competition and developing countries and the challenge for compliance - push and pull measures Joyeeta Gupta; 18. Policy instrument innovation in the European Union: a realistic model for international environmental governance? Andrew Jordan, Rüdiger K. W. Wurzel and Anthony R. Zito; 19. Financial instruments and cooperation in implementing international agreements for the global environment Charlotte Streck; 20. Global environmental change and the nation state: sovereignty bounded? Peter H. Sand; 21. Whose environment? - concepts of commonality in international environmental law Michael Bothe; 22. Globalising environmental liability: the interplay of national and international law A. E. Boyle; 23. The legal nature of environmental principles in international, EU and exemplary national law Gerd Winter.