The failure of more than twenty years of international efforts to stem the rise of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has led to a great deal of scholarly innovation seeking to identify alternative paths forward. Some scholars have sought to identify failings of the UN climate regime and how these could be addressed.1 Others have shifted focus from global to regional scales of environmental governance.2 Perhaps the most significant trend in the past number of years has been the move to analyze the growth of climate and environmental governance beyond the realm of formal intergovernmental relations. Research in this area has sought to map and understand the growing web of transnational climate governance, which involves differing configurations of public and private actors.3
While the shift of focus towards transnational governance mechanisms in particular is welcome, it risks crowding out research on the role of states. Although undoubtedly...