Ideas, Issues and Actors in International Climate Change Negotiations

Abstract

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of the 21st Century. The international response was first formulated in Rio in 1992, when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was signed. Since then, the world's governments meet annually at the Conferences of the Parties (COPs) to tackle the challenge of a changing climate. From the very beginning, non-state actors closely follow and increasingly participate in the intergovernmental climate negotiations. The COPs have thus turned into huge summits where every dimension of climate change is represented, from carbon markets to vegan lifestyle. This panel is dedicated to the UNFCCC negotiation process and the multiple actors, ideas and issues involved in the negotiations. It is particularly interested in the interplay between diverse/distinct actors, as well as between actors and issues. It thus addresses questions such as - How do different (types of) actors interact? How do non-governmental representatives seek to influence governmental delegates to shape the negotiations? Why do governments open the negotiations to extensive participation of non-state actors? How do governmental representatives interact with each other? How are coalitions formed in the negotiations? - Who holds what views on climate change solutions? Which of these views are taken up in the negotiations, and by whom? - What differing interpretations exist of the measure of success and failure of a negotiation session and the overall climate negotiations? Are outside observers holding unrealistically high expectations compared to what the UNFCCC is capable of delivering, given its universal membership and national economic interests? How can international negotiations contribute to mitigating climate change, if not via setting framework conditions requiring implementation on the national level? With its contribution, this panel hopes to add to a growing literature that looks in more details at the complex interplay of actors and issues in environmental governance.

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