I am an Associate Professor in the Political Science Department of the University of Toronto and the University of Toronto Scarborough. I’m also an Affiliated Faculty member of the Environmental Governance Lab in the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, and a Research Fellow of the Earth System Governance project.
My research focuses on global environmental governance and political economy. The goal of my research is to understand the development, functioning and impacts of transnational private sustainability governance of corporate activities and its interactions with public policy and governance, both internationally and comparatively. My work includes studies on the political economy of public regulatory interventions in transnational private governance; the impacts of private governance on the development of public policy; the political-economic power of private audit firms and assessors; and the political-economic origins and development of private governance. To study these topics, I employ comparative case study research, social network analysis, and statistical analysis. My research covers multiple areas in environmental and natural resources governance, including fisheries, sustainable finance, climate change, fair trade, renewable energy, electronic waste, and organic agriculture.
I received a Ph.D. in Global Environmental Politics from Yale University in 2014. I also hold Master’s degrees in Global Environmental Politics (2011) from Yale, and in Political Science (2002), Economic Policy (2003), and Conflict and Peace Studies (2005) from the University of Leuven, Belgium.
For more information: www.stefanrenckens.com