ABSTRACT
Global climate change will affect just about everything that humans do on this planet, so it also poses challenges for public administration. As governance institutions and nonprofit organizations generally have missions that are aimed at dealing with collective, social problems, public administrators (in public and nonprofit organizations) are quite likely to be involved in decisions about how to mitigate or adapt to climate change. This entry offers a framework for understanding global climate change policy in terms familiar to public administration and policy professionals—as a super wicked problem, one that entails dynamics of uncertainty and controversy at many different levels and in many different ways. It also addresses specific governance decisions related to climate change, beginning with a review of actions taken through the United Nations, then moving to the United States where attention is given to actions at different levels of government. For treatment of Europe the entry stays at the European Union level. A few brief reviews of key nation-state actors and some treatment regarding nongovernmental actors are included next. Public administrators are involved in considering and implementing policy at all of those levels and in all of those organizations.
