Alternative Venues of Climate Cooperation: An Institutional Perspective

Abstract

Climate change is now widely recognized as a political priority, yet different views exist on how to shape an international response. Following serious setbacks in the climate negotiations, this question has also grown to encompass the adequacy of different venues and institutions to address the challenge of climate change mitigation. Applying a diverse set of metrics, this chapter assesses the structure and achievements of a number of existing and proposed fora for international climate cooperation. It starts with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, and proceeds to survey other venues focused on climate change. Rather than identifying one single panacea for climate change mitigation, the analysis shows that different approaches to climate cooperation evidence distinct strengths and shortcomings, typically accompanied by correlating trade-offs; and that a balanced combination of approaches may be needed to address the climate mitigation challenge. Unsurprisingly, the analysis also affirms that the global objective of effective climate change mitigation cannot be reached in any of the venues unless participants raise their political ambition.