Tim Rayner, Sebastian Oberthür and Lukas Hermwille coordinated this special issue. The authors derived six major findings from the contributions to this special issue:
- The barriers and challenges to decarbonisation vary significantly across sectoral systems.
- Similarly, the need and potential for the five functions of international governance institutions to contribute to effective climate protection also vary widely.
- While the pattern is uneven, there is a general undersupply of international climate governance.
- The sectoral analyses confirm that the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement play an important overarching role but remain limited in advancing effective sectoral governance.
- While non-environmental institutions may present important barriers to decarbonisation, more synergistic effects are possible.
- This sectoral approach provides a sound basis on which to identify sector-specific policy options.