Global environmental assessments are widely considered to play a prominent role in environmental governance. However, they are also criticised for a lack of effectiveness in informing policy and decision-making. In response, GEAs have adopted a number of strategies to bolster their effectiveness, including by orienting themselves towards solutions (solution-orientation), increasing the diversity of included experts (participation), and producing more targeted assessments (contextualisation). In this article, we analyse these strategies as attempts to be effective for multiple audiences while also identifying the limitations of these strategies. Based on this analysis, we propose to conceive of GEAs as processes that are able to empower diverse actors – ranging from diplomats in international negotiations to civil society activists, or indigenous and local knowledge holders – to act towards socio-environmental objectives. Seen in this light, the effectiveness of GEAs can be improved by reflecting on which actors can benefit from assessments and how assessments can contribute to their empowerment. This strategy goes beyond current proposals that aim to strengthen the authority of assessments by boosting the scientific quality and credibility of the reports. Indeed, it complements them with an explicitly political perspective. Using examples of empowerment in different phases of GEA production and use, we argue that this reconceptualisation of effectiveness requires assessments to reflect a diversity of problem and solution frames, thereby creating entry points for the empowerment of a broad range of actors. We conclude by providing three illustrative ideas to improve effectiveness for the design and execution of assessments.

全球环境评估被广泛认为在环境治理中发挥着重要作用。然而，它们也因在为政策和决策提供信息方面缺乏有效性而受到批评。作为回应，GEA 采取了许多策略来提高其有效性，包括将自己定位于解决方案（以解决方案为导向）、增加所包括专家的多样性（参与）以及进行更有针对性的评估（情境化）。在本文中，我们将这些策略分析为对多个受众有效的尝试，同时还确定了这些策略的局限性。基于这一分析，我们建议将 GEA 视为能够赋予不同行为者权力的过程——从国际谈判中的外交官到民间社会活动家，或土著和地方知识持有者——为实现社会环境目标而行动。从这个角度来看，可以通过反思哪些参与者可以从评估中受益以及评估如何有助于增强他们的能力来提高 GEA 的有效性。该战略超越了目前旨在通过提高报告的科学质量和可信度来加强评估权威的建议。事实上，它以明确的政治观点补充了它们。使用 GEA 生产和使用不同阶段的赋权示例，我们认为这种有效性的重新概念化需要评估以反映问题和解决方案框架的多样性，从而为广泛的参与者赋权创造切入点。