3.3.1.3 Relevant actors and policy domains

A broad set of global governance institutions is involved in addressing the impacts of global environmental change, such as climate change. Many of these will need to consider adopting responsibilities related to ESTP impacts in their mandates. This includes, for example, the UNFCCC (adaptation, loss and damage, finance, climate resilience), the CBD, the international development community, especially the UN Development Programme, and international development banks, the OECD and international financial institutions (World Bank, International Monetary Fund). Others will likely also be affected, e.g. the World Trade Organization or institutions governing international security. Impact governance is a multi-scale issue (see Chapter 3.1), with countless important actors at regional, national, and local scales (Petzold et al., 2023). Correspondingly, non-governmental and civil society organisations, transnational networks, and private-sector initiatives working in these domains will also need to consider engagement with ESTPs and their expected impacts. Below, we discuss approaches to ESTP impact governance with a specific focus on the UNFCCC and its multi-scale linkages for the governance of adaptation, loss and damage and corresponding capacity building and finance (3.3.3).

In the current pre-tipping phase of impact governance, the following questions can motivate governance actors:

  • How could the international community best monitor and continuously learn about the changing risk of approaching and passing tipping points?
  • What impact would the transgression of various ESTPs have on a country, community and potential migratory movements, e.g. the effects of WAIS disintegration on coastlines, coastal cities and infrastructure, expected extreme weather damage, and forced migration?
  • How should the international community and individual countries prepare for and manage the passing of tipping points and their diverse consequences?
  • What criteria can guide the prioritisation of measures? For example, number of affected people, critical infrastructure at risk, economic value of threatened buildings or activities.
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