Making the Paris Agreement: Historical Processes and the Drivers of Institutional Design

After a decade-long search, countries finally agreed on a new climate treaty in 2015. The Paris Agreement has attracted attention both for overcoming years of gridlock and for its novel features. Here, we build on accounts explaining why states reached agreement, arguing that a deeper understanding requires a focus on institutional design. Ultimately, it was this agreement, with its specific provisions, that proved acceptable to states rather than other possible outcomes. Our account is multi-causal and draws methodological inspiration from the public policy and causes of war literatures. Specifically, we distinguish between background, intermediate, and proximate conditions and identify how they relate to one another, jointly producing the ultimate outcome we observe. Our analysis focuses especially on the role of scientific knowledge, non-state actor mobilization, institutional legacies, bargaining, and coalition-building in the final push for agreement. This case-based approach helps to understand the origins of Paris, but also offers a unique, historically grounded way to examine questions of institutional design.

How the “Best Accidental Climate Treaty” Stopped Runaway Climate Change

The Montreal Protocol halted the destruction of the ozone layer. In the process, it saved one of Earth’s most important carbon sinks.

Political Realism, Feasibility Wedges, and Opportunities for Collective Action on Climate Change

This chapter raises objections to the argument that a highly unjust response to the problem of climate change is the best that we can currently hope for and is thus the solution that we should actively promote even from an ethical point of view. Such an argument has been put forward by a wide range of commentators in philosophy, economics, law, and international affairs including John Broome, Eric Posner, David Weisbach, and Cass Sunstein. Among other things, the author argues that the way in which this argument fails is both ethically and practically instructive, as its failure reveals how a realist approach to climate policy is consistent with a more equity-focused approach than is commonly appreciated. As a concrete illustration, it is explained how the lessons could be incorporated into a more ethical climate treaty architecture that shares structural features with proposals from William Nordhaus, Joseph Stiglitz, and others.

FIVE YEARS OF THE PARIS AGREEMENT: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE GLOBAL CLIMATE TREATY

The article presents an analysis of the main stages in the development of climate diplomacy on the eve of the Paris Agreement and the specifics of the negotiation process at the very summit in Paris in November-December 2015. The main provisions of the Paris Climate Agreement are described, its “strengths” and “weaknesses” are shown. The development of the negotiation process within the framework of the post-Paris climate policy at the Conference of the Parties in Marrakesh (2016), Bonn (2017), Katowice (2018) and Madrid (2019) was considered. The main decisions and conclusions of the Conference of the Parties on the further improvement of mechanisms for combating global climate change and adaptation to its consequences have been identified. An increasing tendency in many countries of the world towards the creation of a national carbon-neutral economy by 2050, their rejection of “dirty” technologies and the declaration of a deep ecological modernization of sectors of national economies are noted. The groupings of countries participating in the negotiation process under the UN climate change convention are analyzed. Shown are the vanguard countries of the negotiation process and the states blocking or “inhibiting” the negotiation process. The high dependence of the Russian economy on the extraction and export of fuel resources complicates the processes of environmental modernization. The country is dominated by a negative narrative about climate change. It sees the urgent ecological modernization of the country’s economy as a threat to the “key” sectors of the economy. Russia is one of the last countries in the world to ratify the Paris Agreement (October 2019) and to submit its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the UN in the fight against global climate change (November 2020). In the conclusion, generalizations are made and prospects for the further development of climate diplomacy are presented.

Climate Change

This is, for my money, the best single-source primer on the state of climate change. (New York Magazine) “The right book at the right time: accessible, comprehensive, unflinching, humane.” (The Daily Beast) “A must-read.” (The Guardian) The essential primer on what will be the defining issue of our time, CLIMATE CHANGE: What Everyone Needs to Know® is a clear-eyed overview of the science, conflicts, and implications of our warming planet. From Joseph Romm, Chief Science Advisor for National Geographic’s Years of Living Dangerously series and one of Rolling Stone’s “100 people who are changing America,” CLIMATE CHANGE offers user-friendly, scientifically rigorous answers to the most difficult (and commonly politicized) questions surrounding what climatologist Lonnie Thompson has deemed “a clear and present danger to civilization.” Questions about climate change addressed in this guide include:· How will climate change affect day-to-day life in the coming decades? · What are the implications of owning coastal property in the age of climate change? · Is retirement to South Florida (or the U.S. Southwest, or even Southern Europe) safe? · What are the implications of the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris climate treaty? · What does Donald Trump’s presidency mean for climate action in the United States and around the globe? · Are efforts to combat climate change making a difference? As the global response to climate change continues to evolve, CLIMATE CHANGE: What Everyone Needs to Know® offers smart, unblemished answers to the most difficult questions in an area dogged by misunderstanding and politicization.