7 - Negotiating a Global Public Good: Lessons From Global Warming Conferences and Future Directions

Abstract

This final chapter provides a critical review of the international endeavors to negotiate a global policy on climate change for the past 3decades from the perspectives of behavioral economics. The establishments of and ongoing challenges faced by the two primary international policy frameworks are reviewed: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Major outcomes from the series of Conferences of the Parties are explained: the Rio Earth Summit, Kyoto Protocol, Copenhagen Accord, Durban Platform, and Paris Agreement. A critical review is provided of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions committed by a number of major developed and developing countries submitted to the Paris Agreement. The development of the Green Climate Fund, the primary financial instrument of the UNFCCC, was motivated to ease the tensions between rich and poor countries with regard to differentiated responsibilities, but many challenges have yet to be answered. Two non-UNFCCC international agreements directed at addressing a selected aspect of climate change are reviewed: the amended Montreal Protocol and the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation. The author concludes the chapter by elaborating a number of future directions in global climate negotiations from the perspectives of private incentives, technological innovations, behavioral adaptations, and communication.