A Behavioural Approach to International Climate Negotiations

Abstract

The article analyses the strategies of Latin American countries in international climate negotiations, their main determinants and modifications in the last twenty years. It aims at understanding why at the beginning of the negotiation process in the 1990s Latin American countries were reluctant to make GHG mitigation commitments but at present they have all signed the Paris Agreement and are working on implementing their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Content analysis was performed on Latin American delegates’ declarations in UNFCCC Climate Change Conferences (COPs) between 1995 and 2014. The article identifies the economic and governance incentives that have been introduced in the international climate regime to induce behavioural change among developing countries’ decision makers, including economic instruments (carbon markets), higher recognition of equity issues within the UNFCCC participation mechanisms, availability of new information, climate finance provision and growing trade restrictions for market access based on the carbon content of exported products.