International Organizations in the Climate Change Regime Complex: Challenges and Opportunities

Efforts to combat climate change globally have significantly expanded beyond the multilateral response under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to include novel institutional arrangements, so-called international cooperative initiatives, combining the expertise and resources of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), firms, academia, cities, sub-national regions and international organizations (Biermann et al. 2009; Keohane and Victor 2011; Abbott 2012; Bulkeley et al. 2014; Falkner 2015). As a result, the global climate governance system has developed from a single regime to a regime complex (Keohane and Victor 2011; Raustiala and Victor 2004), showing increasing signs of fragmentation and functional overlaps (Biermann et al. 2009; Zelli 2011). This paper investigates the role of International Organizations (IOs) in the emerging climate governance regime complex by scrutinizing a) the multi-actor networks IOs engage in; b) the functions IOs perform as part of multi-actor networks, c) the possible synergies and conflicts that result from IO engagement in global climate governance. The paper concludes with key lessons learned for more effective IO engagement in the climate change regime complex.