At the 2026 Bath Conference on Earth System Governance, researchers discussed environmental governance amid geopolitical disruption and institutional reform.
“Building Just and Sustainable Futures for Planetary Integrity” was the overarching theme of the 2026 Earth System Governance Conference that was hosted by the University of Bath and the Earth System Governance Project in Bath, UK, from 8-10 September 2026, with the support of IDOS as ESG Research Center Bonn and as an official partner of the Bath conference. The conference brought together some 450 social scientists from around the world to discuss current Earth system governance research as well as the future of the project and its vibrant research community. For instance, a townhall meeting on the development of a new ESG science plan reflected on the network’s resilience in regard to political pushback against environmental policy and research and discussed the need to address geopolitical dynamics, backlash against democratic institutions and governance challenges resulting from new technologies. A similar tone had been set by Rachel Kyte, he UK’s Special Representative for Climate, who delivered a passionate key note speech during the opening of the conference in the historic Bath Abbey in which she implored that „Science needs better politics.“
As an official conference partner, IDOS was highly visible throughout the conference, including through numerous paper presentations and panel discussions, represented by a delegation of eight IDOS researchers. Highlights included an IDOS-hosted semi-plenary roundtable on „The ‚Triple COP‘ Year 2026: Multilateral Environmental Governance between Geopolitical Disruption and Institutional Reform,“ chaired and moderated by IDOS Senior Researcher Dr Steffen Bauer, that served to launch the essay “Environmental Multilateralism in 2026: More Robust Than Disruption Narratives Suggest,” the Environmental Governance department’s contribution to IDOS’ new Flagship Report Disruption and Reform. During the roundtable session eminent scholars from the global ESG network discussed the potential for mutual learnings across the Rio convention processes. A key outcome was for scholars and negotiators to revisit the relevance of national sovereignty in environmental multilateralism, notably with regard to African states’ concern regarding their ‘Right to Development’ in a geopolitically fraught context.
You may find further reports on the conference here in the ESG newsletter.
