Towards a Workable and Effective Climate Regime

Introduction
Scott Barrett, Carlo Carraro and Jaime de Melo
countries are waiting for substantial increases in climate finance prior to starting to
mitigate, Kotchen is optimistic that both Democrats and Republicans will recognise
the value of climate-related assistance to poor countries. The key to success from
the US perspective, then, is that all countries submit reasonably ambitious emissions
reductions plans and that the agreement be viewed as the beginning of a process of
pledge and report (rather than commit and comply), leading to transparency and regular
reporting of emissions.
Part III: Architecture and governance
The chapters in Part III focus on the architecture of institutions designed to reduce
global emissions of greenhouse gases. Some chapters are concerned with the UNFCCC/
Paris process, but others go beyond this approach and look to other opportunities to
limit emissions.
In Chapter 11, Bodansky explores one of the key legal issues facing the climate
negotiations. Many observers have long argued that an agreement to limit emissions
must be legally binding. However, under international law countries are free to
participate in any agreement or not as they please, and making an agreement legally
binding may cause some countries not to participate. The Kyoto Protocol was ‘legally
binding’, but that didn’t stop the US from declining to ratify the agreement, or Canada
from withdrawing from it later. Bodansky notes that there is no clear evidence that a
legally binding agreement has more of an effect on state behaviour than a non-legally
binding agreement. Probably more important than the legally binding nature of an
agreement are its precise terms, particularly with regard to the agreement’s ability to
enforce participation.
In the run up to COP21, countries have been submitting their INDCs. As previously
emphasised, one issue is whether the aggregate of emission reductions implied by these
pledges are on the right track to meet the goal of limiting mean global temperature
change to 2°C. Another issue is whether similar countries are making similar pledges.
Are countries pledging to contribute their fair share? In Chapter 12, Aldy and Pizer
focus on this second question. They find that it is a difficult question to answer, because
the INDCs are expressed in different ways and no single metric exists for effort. They
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