Alternative Architecture for Climate Change - Major Economies

Abstract

This article argues that the Kyoto Protocol to the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change was doomed to face difficulties ab initio. Moving the climate change agenda forward multilaterally among the 195 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is proving to be a serious challenge. The lack of progress in UNFCCC negotiations in recent years has led many to question whether the UNFCCC is, in fact, the best and most effective forum for mobilizing a global response to climate change. The current approach to negotiating a comprehensive, universal, and legally binding global agreement on climate change is unlikely to succeed, as demonstrated by the near-disaster of the Conference of the Parties-15 in Copenhagen. Moreover, international climate policy, as it has been understood and practiced by many governments under the Kyoto Protocol approach, has failed to produce any discernible real world reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases since the mid 1990s. In order for a future global climate change agreement to be successful, the article argues that there are nine fundamental factors that must be borne in mind, and concludes that no breakthroughs will take place regarding a global climate change agreement until there is more political maturity on the side of the U.S., and until rapidly emerging economies such as China and India indicate that they are ready to play their part. Large emitters of GHG need to be involved for negotiations to come to a conclusion, and much progress is still needed until we reach an international agreement that is strong enough to tackle climate change effectively and is equitable enough to gain the sympathy of all countries.