Honorary Doctor Seminar: Frank Biermann, Utrecht University - “The Goalification of Global Governance: How Targets Are Shaping International Environmental Politics”

“The Goalification of Global Governance: How Targets Are Shaping International Environmental Politics”

Abstract

Over the last twenty years, it has become more common in global environmental politics to rely on goal setting as a political steering mechanism. In climate governance, the goal-based Paris Agreement has replaced the stricter approach of the earlier Kyoto Protocol, and in biodiversity politics goals have become central as well. The best-known goal-based governance framework are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that the United Nations agreed upon in 2015. In this interactive research seminar, Frank Biermann critically interrogates the promises and pitfalls of this increasingly dominant type of political steering by global goals, in discussion with members of the Environmental Politics group and others. 

Frank Biermann is Professor of Global Sustainability Governance at Utrecht University, and he will be appointed Honorary Doctor of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Lund University in recognition of his pioneering contributions to the field of global environmental politics. Building on a disciplinary background in political science and law, Biermann’s widely cited scholarship studies global institutions and power structures amid growing planetary interdependence and ecological crisis. His scientific work has been recognized with several distinctions, including the Volvo Environment Prize and the Distinguished Scholar Award in Environmental Studies from the International Studies Association. Biermann has been a Visiting Professor at Lund University from 2011 to 2015, working with numerous colleagues at the Department of Political Science, the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, and the strategic research area BECC.

Frank Biermann – Lund University Honorary Doctor 2026

Professor of Global Sustainability Governance at Utrecht University. He is appointed Honorary Doctor of the Faculty of Social Sciences in recognition of his pioneering contributions to the field of global environmental politics. He was jointly nominated by the professorial colleges of the Department of Political Science and the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies. He will receive his honorary doctorate on 29 May 2026.

Professor Biermann has authored or edited 20 books and published about 200 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on global institutions in the sustainability domain, with particular focus on the Sustainable Development Goals, international bureaucracies, and global environmental justice. He was the founder and first chair (2008-2018) of the 'Earth System Governance Project', the leading global research network of on sustainability governance.

 His scientific achievements have been recognized with numerous international distinctions, including the 2024 Volvo Environment Prize and the Distinguished Scholar Award in Environmental Studies from the International Studies Association. He has spoken in the United Nations General Assembly and the European Parliament and is an elected Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science.