Abstract
Not only is the climate changing, but so is global climate governance. Climate policy initiatives have proliferated within and beyond the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) regime in a polycentric pattern. Nevertheless, promised action under the Paris Agreement (PA) is far from being sufficient to achieve its targets of keeping global warming below 2 °C. A special research focus has emerged on international ‘climate clubs’, referring to a smaller group’s greater ability to make progress in international climate policy compared to large global forums. Against this background, our paper reflects on the club functions of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), a transnational partnership that aims at slowing the rate of near-term global warming through the reduction of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs). How does the CCAC contribute to global climate governance and how does this relate to existing structures, such as the UNFCCC process and the PA? Researchers have generally found that climate clubs can raise ambition, produce emissions reductions, and/or enhance cooperation, while generating additional benefits for its members. However, their specific governance contribution remains rather opaque, for example, how emissions reductions are achieved. There is a lack of analytical application, knowledge of the political practice and of in-depth case studies of the clubs concept. This paper contributes to filling this gap by applying central aspects of clubs research, namely membership and size, public goods, and the provision of additional benefits as an analytical framework in one in-depth case study of a governance initiative that has not yet been the subject of academic scrutiny: the CCAC. The results are based on expert interviews and the analysis of strategic and academic documents. Overall, this research finds that the CCAC’s largest contribution to global climate governance lies in preparing SLCP emissions reductions through raising awareness, orchestrating different actors and actions related to SLCPs, and establishing a large technical cooperation network. To some degree it also directly implements SLCP reduction projects. Ultimately, it complements the UNFCCC and especially the Paris Agreement. Members are part of the CCAC because its benefits go beyond climate change mitigation. Its large transnational membership constellation both supports and challenges its governance contribution.
Highlights
The first two decades of the 21st century have seen an immense number of new policies, regulations, and initiatives representing manifold responses to the challenge of climate change
The Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) can draw on success stories related to emissions reductions, these projects have been modest in terms of tonnes of emissions reduced, and represent flagship and “best practice” examples rather than large-scale implementation
Within the CCAC, this is a point of discussion: some members would like to see the focus of the CCAC shift more strongly towards large-scale implementation of mitigation activities
Summary
The first two decades of the 21st century have seen an immense number of new policies, regulations, and initiatives representing manifold responses to the challenge of climate change. We conclude that the CCAC has the prerequisites to make a relevant contribution because of its numerous and diverse members, who participate in this club because of the common objective of near-term climate change mitigation, and because they receive benefits beyond this overall goal, e.g. technological support.
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