Environment and Energy
Grant Terry/Shutterstock.com

Environment and Energy Program Overview

Planet Earth faces severe and growing stresses as a result of human development and consumption. The Environment and Energy program at CIGI focuses on governance issues related to climate change, geoengineering (from a governance perspective), sustainable economics, alternative energy, and agriculture and food security.

As institutional reforms are proposed and non-state and hybrid governance mechanisms emerge, a clear need exists for incisive analysis and relevant policy advice. The program’s overall ideal is to develop innovative policy responses that are adopted to ensure global sustainability. Ideas and dialogue arising from CIGI’s fall 2010 conference, Climate of Action, are helping to define the program’s ongoing work plan. As well, the program is informed, in part, by participation by CIGI Chair of the Board, Jim Balsillie, in the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability.

Projects & Activities

Concepts for intentionally modifying our global climate — known as geoengineering — are rapidly emerging into the scientific and policy discussions surrounding climate change. This project focuses on the international governance framework for the various geoengineering modalities being proposed across the globe.
Sustainable economies in the 21st century that are vibrant, competitive and successful will internalize environmental costs into a new generation of technologies, products, businesses, markets. This program, whilst factoring in and in some instances contributing to this thrust, will focus on the financial economy.
In August 2010, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the UN High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability to formulate a new blueprint for sustainable growth. The panel was tasked with exploring different approaches to effectively tackle hunger, inequality and the deterioration of the natural environment.