Tora Skodvin
Biographic Data
| ID | 79025 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Tora Skodvin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Tora |
| FAMILY NAME | Skodvin |
| SIGNATURE | SKODVIN T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oslo |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6673-5016 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 154 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
A Lifetime of Research on Environmental Politics
The late Arild Underdal profoundly impacted how scholars and policymakers understand international and domestic environmental governance. We summarize his influence on studies of leadership in international negotiations, policy integration, treaty design, climate clubs, regime effectiveness, and the domestic politics of international environmental agreements. For each topic, we also offer brief suggestions for future research based on Arild’s aca…
Regulating production rather than consumption? Comparing the challenges of supply-side and demand-side climate agreements
A growing strand of climate policy literature explores the potential for a supply-side treaty—an international agreement among fossil-fuel-producing states to reduce their output. Proponents argue that such a treaty is cost-efficient; that it is easier to enforce than a demand-side treaty; that it encourages investment in low-carbon technology; and that it addresses concerns such as “the green paradox” and “carbon leakage.” We contribute to this …
Protecting Future Generations Through Minilateralism
Despite three decades of global climate negotiations and high expectations for the 2015 Paris Agreement, global emissions continue to grow. To protect future generations from severe harm, scholars, environmentalists, and politicians alike explore potential supplements to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process. One potential supplement is climate clubs of a type where a small number of “enthusiastic” countries embark on …
The Paris Agreement’s inherent tension between ambition and compliance
Despite three decades of climate negotiations, the world will face a global temperature increase of 2.6 °C above pre-industrial levels by 2100 even if all current unconditional climate pledges should be fully implemented (UNEP 2022 ). However, demands for more ambitious commitments are mounting. In the run-up to the COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, for instance, the UN Climate Change Synthesis Report was referred to as a “red alert for our planet” by UN…
Three institutional pathways to envision the future of the IPCC
Economic recessions and decarbonisation
Existing research has demonstrated that government policies often prioritise growth over climate during economic downturns. Yet government stimulus spending during economic downturns also offers an opportunity for decarbonisation through long-term investments in infrastructure, transportation electrification, building efficiency, and clean energy technologies able to reduce emissions and sustainably shift the economy away from fossil fuels. We st…
Why the United States Supports International Enforcement for Some Treaties but not for Others
Under what conditions should we expect the United States to support international enforcement of treaties? We hypothesize that U.S. support is most likely for treaties where international enforcement will cause considerable (desired) behavioral change by other countries but little (undesired) behavioral change by the United States. Similarly, U.S. support is least likely for treaties where international enforcement will generate the converse effe…
The Paris Agreement
The 2015 Paris Agreement was widely greeted with enthusiasm. We assess the short-term and long-term potential effectiveness of Paris. Concerning short-term effectiveness, we contend that while Paris scores high on participation, and reasonably high on the depth of the parties’ commitments (ambition), its Achilles’ heel will likely be compliance. Concerning long-term effectiveness, we argue that Paris does little to restructure states’ incentives …
Kan de internasjonale klimaforhandlingene lykkes
Nasjonale drivkrefter i USAs klimapolitikk
Da Obama overtok som president i 2009, var ett av hovedmålene å styrke amerikansk klimapolitikk. Fem år senere er målet fortsatt ikke blitt realisert. For å forklare denne manglende måloppnåelsen undersøker vi tre forhold: Først analyserer vi koalisjonsbyggingsstrategiene som ble brukt i Kongressen for å bygge bro over tradisjonelle konfliktlinjer i amerikansk klimapolitikk, og finner at det var nær umulig for senatsledelsen å bygge kompromisser …
Can Climate Change Negotiations Succeed
More than two decades of climate change negotiations have produced a series of global climate agreements, such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Accords, but have nevertheless made very limited progress in curbing global emissions of greenhouse gases. This paper considers whether negotiations can succeed in reaching an agreement that effectively addresses the climate change problem. To be effective, a climate agreement must cause substanti…
Can conditional commitments break the climate change negotiations deadlock
Can a conditional commitment by a major actor (for example, the European Union) induce other major actors (such as the USA, China, India, or Japan) to do more to mitigate global climate change? We analyse this question by first estimating the impact of emission reductions by one of these actors on the mitigation costs of the others and, second, by exploring how domestic politics influence the willingness of the European Union and the USA to contr…
Cost Effectiveness and Target Group Influence in Norwegian Climate Policy
Cost effectiveness is a key principle of climate policies in industrialised countries, yet there are significant political barriers against its implementation. The Norwegian case demonstrates that differences in the climate policy instruments targeting different sectors cannot be explained by the sectors' relative significance in the national economy. Whereas the economically insignificant energy‐intensive industries (EIIs) successfully resisted …
Target-group influence and political feasibility
Political feasibility (or infeasibility) is often associated with target-group support (or opposition) of specific policy alternatives. We argue that target-groups’ capacity to influence the spectrum of politically feasible policy options tends to be higher when (1) target groups control resources needed by decision-makers, that (2) are agenda-setters and/or veto players in the decision-making process. In the 2008 revision of the European Union E…
An agenda for change in U.S. climate policies? Presidential ambitions and congressional powers
Bokanmeldelser
Tenketankenes rolle i amerikansk politikk
Leadership Revisited
In the late 1980s/early 1990s the concept of leadership was introduced in the study of international regimes to describe the role negotiating parties some-times would take on to craft agreement. The concept seemed to grasp an essential feature of multilateral cooperative efforts: that parties can be differentiated by the extent to which they are capable of, and willing to, take on a particular responsibility of guiding other parties in directions…
Nonstate Influence in the International Whaling Commission, 1970–1990
The role of nonstate actors in international environmental politics has been given increased scholarly attention during the last decade. While most analyses are focused on direct nonstate influence at the international level, one main objective of this article is to develop a multi-level approach that allows analysis of nonstate influence channeled via the domestic decision making level. The point of departure for the analysis is the Internationa…
The Persistence of the Kyoto Protocol
The United States, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is not going to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in the foreseeable future. Yet, a number of countries have decided to stay on the Kyoto track. Four main explanations for this apparent puzzle are considered. The first is that remaining Annex I countries still expect the Kyoto Protocol to reduce global warming sufficiently to outweigh the economic costs of implementation. The second is t…
Climate Change and the Oil Industry
The primary focus of most academic climate policy studies has been the robustness of climate science and the development of international negotiations and institutions, in which states, and sometimes societies, have been pinpointed as the key players. Systematic comparative studies of multinational and even global non-governmental actors have been in short supply. This research lacuna is particularly glaring since the position of a major non-stat…
Shell Houston, we have a climate problem
IPCC gazing and the interpretative social sciences
Target-group influence and political feasibility
Political feasibility (or infeasibility) is often associated with target-group support (or opposition) of specific policy alternatives. We argue that target-groups’ capacity to influence the spectrum of politically feasible policy options tends to be higher when (1) target groups control resources needed by decision-makers, that (2) are agenda-setters and/or veto players in the decision-making process. In the 2008 revision of the European Union E…
Leadership Revisited
In the late 1980s/early 1990s the concept of leadership was introduced in the study of international regimes to describe the role negotiating parties some-times would take on to craft agreement. The concept seemed to grasp an essential feature of multilateral cooperative efforts: that parties can be differentiated by the extent to which they are capable of, and willing to, take on a particular responsibility of guiding other parties in directions…
The Persistence of the Kyoto Protocol
The United States, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is not going to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in the foreseeable future. Yet, a number of countries have decided to stay on the Kyoto track. Four main explanations for this apparent puzzle are considered. The first is that remaining Annex I countries still expect the Kyoto Protocol to reduce global warming sufficiently to outweigh the economic costs of implementation. The second is t…
Climate Change and the Oil Industry
The primary focus of most academic climate policy studies has been the robustness of climate science and the development of international negotiations and institutions, in which states, and sometimes societies, have been pinpointed as the key players. Systematic comparative studies of multinational and even global non-governmental actors have been in short supply. This research lacuna is particularly glaring since the position of a major non-stat…
An agenda for change in U.S. climate policies? Presidential ambitions and congressional powers
Can conditional commitments break the climate change negotiations deadlock
Can a conditional commitment by a major actor (for example, the European Union) induce other major actors (such as the USA, China, India, or Japan) to do more to mitigate global climate change? We analyse this question by first estimating the impact of emission reductions by one of these actors on the mitigation costs of the others and, second, by exploring how domestic politics influence the willingness of the European Union and the USA to contr…
Cost Effectiveness and Target Group Influence in Norwegian Climate Policy
Cost effectiveness is a key principle of climate policies in industrialised countries, yet there are significant political barriers against its implementation. The Norwegian case demonstrates that differences in the climate policy instruments targeting different sectors cannot be explained by the sectors' relative significance in the national economy. Whereas the economically insignificant energy‐intensive industries (EIIs) successfully resisted …
Nonstate Influence in the International Whaling Commission, 1970–1990
The role of nonstate actors in international environmental politics has been given increased scholarly attention during the last decade. While most analyses are focused on direct nonstate influence at the international level, one main objective of this article is to develop a multi-level approach that allows analysis of nonstate influence channeled via the domestic decision making level. The point of departure for the analysis is the Internationa…
The Paris Agreement
The 2015 Paris Agreement was widely greeted with enthusiasm. We assess the short-term and long-term potential effectiveness of Paris. Concerning short-term effectiveness, we contend that while Paris scores high on participation, and reasonably high on the depth of the parties’ commitments (ambition), its Achilles’ heel will likely be compliance. Concerning long-term effectiveness, we argue that Paris does little to restructure states’ incentives …
Can Climate Change Negotiations Succeed
More than two decades of climate change negotiations have produced a series of global climate agreements, such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Accords, but have nevertheless made very limited progress in curbing global emissions of greenhouse gases. This paper considers whether negotiations can succeed in reaching an agreement that effectively addresses the climate change problem. To be effective, a climate agreement must cause substanti…
IPCC gazing and the interpretative social sciences
Nasjonale drivkrefter i USAs klimapolitikk
Da Obama overtok som president i 2009, var ett av hovedmålene å styrke amerikansk klimapolitikk. Fem år senere er målet fortsatt ikke blitt realisert. For å forklare denne manglende måloppnåelsen undersøker vi tre forhold: Først analyserer vi koalisjonsbyggingsstrategiene som ble brukt i Kongressen for å bygge bro over tradisjonelle konfliktlinjer i amerikansk klimapolitikk, og finner at det var nær umulig for senatsledelsen å bygge kompromisser …
Shell Houston, we have a climate problem
Regulating production rather than consumption? Comparing the challenges of supply-side and demand-side climate agreements
A growing strand of climate policy literature explores the potential for a supply-side treaty—an international agreement among fossil-fuel-producing states to reduce their output. Proponents argue that such a treaty is cost-efficient; that it is easier to enforce than a demand-side treaty; that it encourages investment in low-carbon technology; and that it addresses concerns such as “the green paradox” and “carbon leakage.” We contribute to this …
Protecting Future Generations Through Minilateralism
Despite three decades of global climate negotiations and high expectations for the 2015 Paris Agreement, global emissions continue to grow. To protect future generations from severe harm, scholars, environmentalists, and politicians alike explore potential supplements to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process. One potential supplement is climate clubs of a type where a small number of “enthusiastic” countries embark on …
Economic recessions and decarbonisation
Existing research has demonstrated that government policies often prioritise growth over climate during economic downturns. Yet government stimulus spending during economic downturns also offers an opportunity for decarbonisation through long-term investments in infrastructure, transportation electrification, building efficiency, and clean energy technologies able to reduce emissions and sustainably shift the economy away from fossil fuels. We st…
Tenketankenes rolle i amerikansk politikk
IPCC gazing and the interpretative social sciences
Climate Change and the Oil Industry
The primary focus of most academic climate policy studies has been the robustness of climate science and the development of international negotiations and institutions, in which states, and sometimes societies, have been pinpointed as the key players. Systematic comparative studies of multinational and even global non-governmental actors have been in short supply. This research lacuna is particularly glaring since the position of a major non-stat…
Shell Houston, we have a climate problem
Nonstate Influence in the International Whaling Commission, 1970–1990
The role of nonstate actors in international environmental politics has been given increased scholarly attention during the last decade. While most analyses are focused on direct nonstate influence at the international level, one main objective of this article is to develop a multi-level approach that allows analysis of nonstate influence channeled via the domestic decision making level. The point of departure for the analysis is the Internationa…
The Persistence of the Kyoto Protocol
The United States, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is not going to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in the foreseeable future. Yet, a number of countries have decided to stay on the Kyoto track. Four main explanations for this apparent puzzle are considered. The first is that remaining Annex I countries still expect the Kyoto Protocol to reduce global warming sufficiently to outweigh the economic costs of implementation. The second is t…
Tenketankenes rolle i amerikansk politikk
Leadership Revisited
In the late 1980s/early 1990s the concept of leadership was introduced in the study of international regimes to describe the role negotiating parties some-times would take on to craft agreement. The concept seemed to grasp an essential feature of multilateral cooperative efforts: that parties can be differentiated by the extent to which they are capable of, and willing to, take on a particular responsibility of guiding other parties in directions…
Bokanmeldelser
An agenda for change in U.S. climate policies? Presidential ambitions and congressional powers
Target-group influence and political feasibility
Political feasibility (or infeasibility) is often associated with target-group support (or opposition) of specific policy alternatives. We argue that target-groups’ capacity to influence the spectrum of politically feasible policy options tends to be higher when (1) target groups control resources needed by decision-makers, that (2) are agenda-setters and/or veto players in the decision-making process. In the 2008 revision of the European Union E…
Cost Effectiveness and Target Group Influence in Norwegian Climate Policy
Cost effectiveness is a key principle of climate policies in industrialised countries, yet there are significant political barriers against its implementation. The Norwegian case demonstrates that differences in the climate policy instruments targeting different sectors cannot be explained by the sectors' relative significance in the national economy. Whereas the economically insignificant energy‐intensive industries (EIIs) successfully resisted …
Can conditional commitments break the climate change negotiations deadlock
Can a conditional commitment by a major actor (for example, the European Union) induce other major actors (such as the USA, China, India, or Japan) to do more to mitigate global climate change? We analyse this question by first estimating the impact of emission reductions by one of these actors on the mitigation costs of the others and, second, by exploring how domestic politics influence the willingness of the European Union and the USA to contr…
Can Climate Change Negotiations Succeed
More than two decades of climate change negotiations have produced a series of global climate agreements, such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Accords, but have nevertheless made very limited progress in curbing global emissions of greenhouse gases. This paper considers whether negotiations can succeed in reaching an agreement that effectively addresses the climate change problem. To be effective, a climate agreement must cause substanti…
Nasjonale drivkrefter i USAs klimapolitikk
Da Obama overtok som president i 2009, var ett av hovedmålene å styrke amerikansk klimapolitikk. Fem år senere er målet fortsatt ikke blitt realisert. For å forklare denne manglende måloppnåelsen undersøker vi tre forhold: Først analyserer vi koalisjonsbyggingsstrategiene som ble brukt i Kongressen for å bygge bro over tradisjonelle konfliktlinjer i amerikansk klimapolitikk, og finner at det var nær umulig for senatsledelsen å bygge kompromisser …
Kan de internasjonale klimaforhandlingene lykkes
The Paris Agreement
The 2015 Paris Agreement was widely greeted with enthusiasm. We assess the short-term and long-term potential effectiveness of Paris. Concerning short-term effectiveness, we contend that while Paris scores high on participation, and reasonably high on the depth of the parties’ commitments (ambition), its Achilles’ heel will likely be compliance. Concerning long-term effectiveness, we argue that Paris does little to restructure states’ incentives …
Why the United States Supports International Enforcement for Some Treaties but not for Others
Under what conditions should we expect the United States to support international enforcement of treaties? We hypothesize that U.S. support is most likely for treaties where international enforcement will cause considerable (desired) behavioral change by other countries but little (undesired) behavioral change by the United States. Similarly, U.S. support is least likely for treaties where international enforcement will generate the converse effe…
The Paris Agreement’s inherent tension between ambition and compliance
Despite three decades of climate negotiations, the world will face a global temperature increase of 2.6 °C above pre-industrial levels by 2100 even if all current unconditional climate pledges should be fully implemented (UNEP 2022 ). However, demands for more ambitious commitments are mounting. In the run-up to the COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, for instance, the UN Climate Change Synthesis Report was referred to as a “red alert for our planet” by UN…
Three institutional pathways to envision the future of the IPCC
Economic recessions and decarbonisation
Existing research has demonstrated that government policies often prioritise growth over climate during economic downturns. Yet government stimulus spending during economic downturns also offers an opportunity for decarbonisation through long-term investments in infrastructure, transportation electrification, building efficiency, and clean energy technologies able to reduce emissions and sustainably shift the economy away from fossil fuels. We st…
Regulating production rather than consumption? Comparing the challenges of supply-side and demand-side climate agreements
A growing strand of climate policy literature explores the potential for a supply-side treaty—an international agreement among fossil-fuel-producing states to reduce their output. Proponents argue that such a treaty is cost-efficient; that it is easier to enforce than a demand-side treaty; that it encourages investment in low-carbon technology; and that it addresses concerns such as “the green paradox” and “carbon leakage.” We contribute to this …
Protecting Future Generations Through Minilateralism
Despite three decades of global climate negotiations and high expectations for the 2015 Paris Agreement, global emissions continue to grow. To protect future generations from severe harm, scholars, environmentalists, and politicians alike explore potential supplements to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process. One potential supplement is climate clubs of a type where a small number of “enthusiastic” countries embark on …
A Lifetime of Research on Environmental Politics
The late Arild Underdal profoundly impacted how scholars and policymakers understand international and domestic environmental governance. We summarize his influence on studies of leadership in international negotiations, policy integration, treaty design, climate clubs, regime effectiveness, and the domestic politics of international environmental agreements. For each topic, we also offer brief suggestions for future research based on Arild’s aca…
Political science (19 works) · Climate Change Policy and Economics (14 works) · Economics (13 works) · Politics (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Climate change (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Business (7 works) · Negotiation (6 works) · Engineering (5 works)