@phdthesis{01K4PRA5XP95KPBP0FT5AFDKEG,
  abstract     = {{This dissertation examines the drivers and constraints of climate ambition under the pledge-and-review architecture of the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement introduced both a domestic and a performative turn in global climate governance. Countries are now required to submit nationally determined contributions or climate pledges every five years, with the expectation that each round will reflect increased ambition. It is within this context that I explore how and why climate ambition forms and spreads.
To explore how climate ambition spreads under the pledge-and-review architecture of the Paris Agreement, I employ three perspectives: a normative, legal-institutional, and sociological-institutional lens. Each perspective guides an investigation of a different dimension of climate ambition. First, I analyse the rapid diffusion of net zero as a global climate norm, using norm life cycle theory. Second, I examine the legal potential of institutional linkage between the Paris Agreement and EU Trade agreements. Finally, I investigate whether climate pledges are influenced by the ambition levels of peer countries. 
These analyses lead to three key findings. First, the Paris Agreement’s pledge-and-review mechanism has shaped state behaviour, countering claims that dismiss the Agreement as ineffective and mere ‘performative’. Second, institutions are key to spreading climate ambition, not just by coordinating efforts, but by embedding ambition in legal frameworks. Third, climate ambition spreads through both institutional interaction—different institutions and or-ganisations supporting climate ambition by linking their regimes—and through peer influence groups among countries with shared characteristics.
This dissertation contributes to our understanding of climate ambition and offers new insights into global climate governance. It adds to the literature by focusing on how the Paris Agreement’s pledge-and-review process drives ambition. Though crucial questions remain about how and whether these climate pledges will be implemented, the Agreement has proven to be effective in raising and promoting climate ambition over time.}},
  author       = {{Van Coppenolle, Hermine}},
  keywords     = {{Paris Agreement,Global Climate Governance,Climate Ambition}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{XVI, 227}},
  publisher    = {{Ghent University. Faculty of Political and Social Sciences}},
  school       = {{Ghent University}},
  title        = {{Pledge, review, repeat : understanding the drivers and constraints of climate ambition}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}