This chapter considers whether, and under what conditions, private firms can productively combine existing patent assets to support the dissemination and use of green technology. It assesses the unique challenges that face the organizers of private patent commons in the green technology sector. To do so, it first reviews prior efforts to form green patent commons, as well as recent commons proposals that have not yet been implemented. Next, it asks why these efforts have not been successful in achieving their respective goals. Finally, it offers suggestions for future planners seeking to promote the global dissemination and use of patented green technologies through the formation of commons structures.

This chapter explores the role of Human Impact Units (Hu) and regenerative authentication credits in transforming environmental, social, and governance (ESG) governance into a more transparent and equitable knowledge commons. The authors argue that current ESG valuation models, particularly those rooted in carbon-centric methodologies, fail to capture the full spectrum of ESG impacts and often lead to “greenwashing.” By shifting the focus to noncarbon-based valuation mechanisms, such as the Hu and RACs frameworks, the chapter demonstrates how ESG efforts can be more accurately monetized, fostering greater trust and transparency in ESG claims. The authors build the theoretical foundation by proposing the concept of “ESG as knowledge commons” for managing environmental commons, and suggest that “truth” serves as the shared resource, documented through blockchain. Specifically, RACs utilize a blockchain-based framework to ensure data permanence and immutability while allowing for controlled transparency. This research underscores the permanence of truth, enabled by the network’s immutability. Overall, RACs offer an alternative governance model to traditional ESG approaches, leveraging the polycentric nature of blockchain networks to effectively address the uncertainty inherent in the ESG industry.

Given data’s characteristics as a nonrivalrous, inexhaustible resource, some interpretation is necessary to apply Ostrom’s design principles to the challenge of data governance – starting with the question of boundaries. Building upon the Governing Knowledge Commons framework, this chapter argues that boundaries around data resources can be drawn through the intentional development and application of values statements. Since the potential value of data often increases in relation to the number of its users and potential uses, values statements set normative expectations around the kinds of processes and outcomes that are considered desirable – what do we think is good, and how do we agree to do this work? These statements functionas a kind of boundary object that can give shape to a community’s identity and, in turn, aid in the development of new institutional strategies to protect that identity. After considering this function in the context of examples – ranging from abstract signifiers such as “open data” and “smart cities,” to bundled declarations such as the CARE principles, to specific examples of environmental data commons – this chapter concludes by offering practical guidance for the development of values statements through democratic writing processes and collective choice-making.

This chapter uses the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to illustrate and advance the idea of the expert knowledge commons. The IPCC was established in 1988 as an intergovernmental body of the United Nations, charged with advancing scientific knowledge about climate change in order to inform public policy decision-making. As an institution and instrument of authority grounded in scientific expertise, the IPCC has come to play a critical role in advancing political, cultural, and economic awareness of the character of climate change. The IPCC has been the subject of a great deal of research, none of which has focused directly on the manner in which its authoritative status rests both formally and informally on multiple layers of shared knowledge, information, and data. This chapter uses the IPCC’s governance of that shared knowledge to motivate and illustrate a model of expert knowledge commons.

Our natural environment constitutes a complex and dynamic global ecosystem that provides essential resources for well-being and survival. Yet the environment is also subject to unprecedented threats from human activities, such as climate change, pollution, habitat loss, biodiversity decline, and the overexploitation of natural resources. This volume argues that such complex, multidimensional challenges demand equally complex, multidimensional solutions and calls for coordinated multistakeholder action at all scales, including governments, civil society, the private sector, and individuals. To meet the moment effectively, such interventions require both scientific knowledge about how the environment functions and social and institutional knowledge about the actors involved in environmental governance and management. Chapters include case studies of environmental knowledge collection, management, and sharing to explore how data and knowledge sharing can inform effective multistakeholder action to combat global threats to our environment. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Our natural environment constitutes a complex and dynamic global ecosystem that provides essential resources for well-being and survival. Yet the environment is also subject to unprecedented threats from human activities, such as climate change, pollution, habitat loss, biodiversity decline, and the overexploitation of natural resources. This volume argues that such complex, multidimensional challenges demand equally complex, multidimensional solutions and calls for coordinated multistakeholder action at all scales, including governments, civil society, the private sector, and individuals. To meet the moment effectively, such interventions require both scientific knowledge about how the environment functions and social and institutional knowledge about the actors involved in environmental governance and management. Chapters include case studies of environmental knowledge collection, management, and sharing to explore how data and knowledge sharing can inform effective multistakeholder action to combat global threats to our environment. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.