The Climate Regime:

Abstract

During its twenty years in existence, the climate regime has created some innovative new mechanisms but with little practical significance in terms of emission reductions, for they continue to rise. Over time, efforts by the climate negotiators have increased significantly but the effectiveness of the regime has not increased. The Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period is weaker than its predecessor and there are presently no binding obligations for countries with 85 per cent of total emissions. The main reason for the slow progress is the extremely malign nature of the issue-area as it goes to the heart of virtually all global economic activity. All actors need to do more to increase the effectiveness of the regime, but this particularly applies to the increasingly strong emerging economies in the Group of 77. They cannot continue to ‘hide’ inside this group, if progress is to be made.