Climate change negotiations have failed the world. Despite more than thirty years of high-level, global talks on climate change, we are still seeing carbon emissions rise dramatically. This edited volume, comprising leading and emerging scholars and climate activists from around the world, takes a critical look at what has gone wrong and what is to be done to create more decisive action. Composed of twenty-eight essays—a combination of new and republished texts—the anthology is organised around seven main themes: paradigms; what counts?; extraction; dispatches from a climate change frontline country; governance; finance; and action(s). Through this multifaceted approach, the contributors ask pressing questions about how we conceptualise and respond to the climate crisis, providing both ‘big picture’ perspectives and more focussed case studies. This unique and extensive collection will be of great value to environmental and social scientists alike, as well as to the general reader interested in understanding current views on the climate crisis.

Reconstructs negotiations of the Framework Convention on Climate Change at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit.

This book examines how an error in global meta-policy set climate change negotiations on an unproductive course. The decision to base negotiations on the Montreal Protocol and overlook the importance of interests, it argues, institutionalised an approach doomed to fail. By analysing interests, science and norms in the process, and the neglect of ‘interactive minilateralism’, learning was delayed until the more promising Paris Agreement was finally concluded, only to encounter a Trump Presidency, which (ironically) might offer further learning opportunities.

This edited volume provides both a broad overview of cooperation patterns in the UNFCCC climate change negotiations and an in-depth analysis of specific coalitions and their relations. Over the course of three parts, this book maps out and takes stock of patterns of cooperation in the climate change negotiations since their inception in 1995. In Part I, the authors focus on the evolution of coalitions over time, examining why these emerged and how they function. Part II drills deeper into a set of coalitions, particularly "new" political groups that have emerged in the last rounds of negotiations around the Copenhagen Accord and the Paris Agreement. Finally, Part III explores common themes and open questions in coalition research, and provides a comprehensive overview of coalitions in the climate change negotiations. By taking a broad approach to the study of coalitions in the climate change negotiations, this volume is an essential reference source for researchers, students, and negotiators with an interest in the dynamics of climate negotiations.

The 2015 Paris Agreement represents the culmination of years of intense negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Designed to curb climate change, it was negotiated by almost 200 countries who came to the table with different backgrounds, perceptions and interests. As such, the Agreement represents a triumph for multilateralism in a period otherwise characterized by nationalist turns. How did countries reach the historical agreement, and what were the driving forces behind it? This book paints a full picture by providing and analysing multifaceted insider accounts from high-level delegates who represented developed and developing countries, civil society, businesses, the French Presidency, and the UNFCCC Secretariat. In doing so, the book documents not only the negotiation of the Paris Agreement but also the dynamics and factors that shaped it. A better understanding of these dynamics and factors can guide future negotiations and help us solve global challenges.

Providing a detailed examination of climate negotiations records since the 1990s, this book shows that, in addition to agreeing on climate policy frameworks, the negotiations process is of crucial importance to success. Shedding light on the dynamics of international climate policymaking, its respective chapters explore key milestones such as the Kyoto Protocol, Marrakech Accords, Cancun Agreement and Doha Framework. The book identifies a minimum of three conditions that need to be fulfilled for successful climate negotiations: the negotiations need to reflect the fact that climate change calls for global solutions; the negotiation process must be flexible, including multiple trajectories and several small steps; and decisive tactical maneuvers need to be made, as much can depend on, for example, personalities and the negotiating atmosphere. With regard to the design of an international climate policy regime, the main challenge presented has been the inability to agree on globally supported greenhouse gas emission reduction measures. The book offers an excellent source of information for researchers, policymakers and advisors alike.

The basic assumption of this book is that the organization of a negotiation process matters.The global negotiations on climate change involve over 180 countries and innumerable observers and other participants, addressing enormously complex and economically vital issues with conflicting agendas. For the UN to create an effective and well-supported international regime has required enormous and very skilful organization: factors such as the role of the Chair, the choice of negotiating arenas, the rules for the conduct of business and the approach of negotiating texts are usually taken for granted, and rarely attract attention until something goes wrong.This book explores how the negotiations were organized to produce the Kyoto Protocol to the Climate Change Convention and the subsequent Bonn Agreements and Marrakesh Accords. The author draws out the lessons and implications for other intricate and far-reaching negotiations, not all of which have succeeded so far, such as the WTO trade negotiations at Seattle and Cancun.This is essential reading for all participants in and organizers of international negotiations; and for researchers and students of international relations, climate change and environmental studies.