CILG Lunch Seminar: From Multilateral to Minilateral Climate Governance?

Description of the seminar


From Multilateral to Minilateral Climate Governance? Analysing the Institutional Design of Climate Clubs and the Principle of CBDR-RC

 The limitations of the multilateral UN climate regime has prompted both scholars and policymakers to explore alternative approaches to mitigation action. An increasingly prominent suggestion is the creation of ‘climate clubs’ – forums that enable a subset of states to pursue emission reductions outside the UN regime. Climate clubs are generally conceptualised as minilateral institutions that are instigated by ‘enthusiastic actors’ who share a normative commitment to undertake harmonised emission reductions. Accordingly, they are envisioned as smaller, less formal, more flexible and arguably more ambitious in nature. The most notable climate club model was popularised by economist William Nordhaus. Key design features proposed under the Nordhaus-style club include exclusive membership, harmonised and binding club rules, in addition to sanctions against non-compliant members and non-participating countries.

While climate clubs can in theory represent a way to move the international climate change law regime forward, depending on the specific design of a climate club, this could raise potential compatibility issues with the principle of CBDR-RC. As a cornerstone principle of the multilateral UN climate regime, climate clubs should arguably aspire to embed CBDR-RC into their architecture. Otherwise, they risk being misaligned with the UNFCCC. Against the increasingly policy-relevant background of climate clubs, this research therefore aims to analyse key design options of climate clubs through the lens of CBDR-RC. To this end, the research proceeds in three main steps. First, it explores the general rationale for climate clubs before assessing a spectrum of key design features and corresponding typologies. Second, it investigates the principle of CBDR-RC and outlines some key criteria to show how CBDR-RC can be operationalised in practice. Third, it critically analyses whether these design options are compatible with the principle of CBDR-RC based on the criteria established.

Information:

Venue: University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Law, Meeting room 8, 4th floor, room 6B.4.04, South Campus, Njalsgade 76, DK-2300 Copenhagen S and Online on Zoom (link will be provided after registration)

Time: 12:00-13:00

Registration: please click here