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Environmental PoliticsPublication details, including instructions for authorsand subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fenp20

Global energy governance in amultipolar worldHannes R. Stephan aa Lund UniversityPublished online: 20 Apr 2012.

To cite this article: Hannes R. Stephan (2012) Global energy governance in a multipolarworld, Environmental Politics, 21:3, 535-536, DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2012.671612

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2012.671612

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who are still looking for arguments to support the claim that the capitalistsystem is destroying the Earth.

Petra WachterInstitute of Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences

� 2012, Petra Wachterhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2012.671611

Global energy governance in a multipolar world, by Dries Lesage, Thijs van deGraaf and Kirsten Westphal, Farnham, Ashgate, 2010, xiii þ 185 pp., index,£55.00 (hardback), ISBN 9780754677239

The politics of energy has garnered significant attention in recent years and, bynow, has claimed an important position within the broader literature on globalgovernance. Global Energy Governance in a Multipolar World arguablyrepresents the most accomplished overview to date and the book succeeds incomplementing considerable factual knowledge with a cogent argument aboutthe value of major power concerts in global energy governance.

The first contribution consists of an empirically grounded summary ofinstitutional developments in energy governance. One whole chapter isdevoted to the energy ‘regime complex’ at the international level where nouniversal UN-based organisation exists, while a number of other chaptersprovide an in-depth evaluation of decisions made by the G8 as well as by the‘G5’ of emerging economies and a number of further countries assembled bythe Major Economies Forum (or by the G20). Overall, these sections prove tobe extremely informative and they also offer a normative yardstick to evaluatewhat has been achieved so far. The ‘double benchmark’ of leadership andsustainability is an appropriate way of assessing the results of the activities bythe G8þ5 and the myriad organisations that are active in the energy sector –such as the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International RenewableEnergy Agency (IRENA), or the substantial amounts of energy-relatedfunding administered by the World Bank. The appraisal arrives at an even-handed, if somewhat disappointed conclusion: there are some commonobjectives, notably energy efficiency and ‘clean’ energy technologies, butinsufficient levels of funding, benchmarking and monitoring. At least asinteresting as this overview, however, are the specific assessment criteria andthe reasons for selecting major power concerts as the core locus ofgovernance.

The conceptually more ambitious parts of the book argue the case forconcert governance quite persuasively. After outlining the most pressing globalenergy challenges – such as the global demand surge, continued reliance onfossil fuels, concerns over peak oil – the authors adopt a thoroughlyfunctionalist rationale to formulate a ‘blueprint for a global sustainable energy

Environmental Politics 535

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regime’. This vision of energy governance, they argue, can only be achieved bystepping up global efforts to tackle energy poverty and to speed up thetransition to low-carbon technologies. However, a slight incongruence ariseshere because the book, on the one hand, depicts a strongly interdependentworld (with a high degree of ‘intervulnerability’ among major powers), whichrequires a heavy dose of multilateral coordination to address the dauntingenergy challenges. On the other hand, the authors deliver a both pragmatic andprincipled endorsement of major power concerts as the only political forcecapable of steering and coordinating global energy governance. As a result, it isnot always clear how global action on energy poverty and the pursuit ofenvironmental sustainability are supposed to be made compatible withgovernance by concert. The latter remains firmly rooted in the domesticpolitics of the major powers and is thus constrained by fundamental differencesin interests and outlooks. The barriers to ‘multilateralising’ energy governanceare perhaps widely known, but they are only rehearsed in the book’s conclusion– namely, the critical role of modern energy services in ensuring militarycapability, economic dynamism, and social stability.

While it may be high time that considerations of concert governanceinfluence academic debates over global environmental (and climate) govern-ance, other sectors of global governance, including energy, have long beenfamiliar with this reasoning. Hence it would have been interesting to provide asomewhat longer comparison with contending multilateral or transnationalapproaches. Another concern relates to style and language: a more hands-oncopy editor would have been welcome. These quibbles notwithstanding, GlobalEnergy Governance in a Multipolar World represents an excellent starting pointfor both researchers and policymakers interested in global energy governance.And its conclusion is as sober as it is realistic. Unless a concert of major powerscoordinates the global energy transition, no other group of actors orinstitutions is likely to muster the necessary capabilities and leadershipresources.

Hannes R. StephanLund University

� 2012, Hannes R. Stephanhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2012.671612

Global governance of hazardous chemicals: challenges of multilevel management,by Henrik Selin, London, MIT Press, 2010, xi þ 201 pp., index, £16.95(paperback), ISBN 9780262513906, £ 32.95 (hardback), ISBN 978026201395

Global Governance of Hazardous Chemicals offers rich historical description ofthe evolving regimes dealing with transboundary transport of chemicalemissions and the regulation of trade in hazardous chemicals and wastes.

536 Book reviews

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