The authors examine institutional complexity in the context of climate change. They devise a framework that explains institutional complexity in terms of the problem-structural characteristics of an issue area and the associated demand for, and supply of, private authority. They find that these characteristics can help explain the degree of centrality of intergovernmental institutions, as well as the distribution of governance functions between these and private governance institutions.
The researchers then use the framework to analyse three emerging areas of climate governance: reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) and climate engineering. They find that conflicts over means and values, as well as over relatively and absolutely assessed goods, lead to considerable variations in the emergence and roles of private institutions across the three cases.
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