The super-wickedness of climate change has meant that its ruling negotiations are informed by a multidisciplinary, multilevel and multistakeholder landscape, turning its decision-making processes into a highly complex endeavor. Scientific evidence, based on IPCC reports, gets translated into policy recommendations by technical bodies. These recommendations often involve synergies, trade-offs and a wide array of consequences for different sectors of society. These policy recommendations then get negotiated amongst hundreds of countries and thousands of delegations. Often, the outcome of these negotiations is heavily criticized for lacking ambition, concreteness and binding features. The final consensus, in the end, is within the power of just a few powerful actors, and yet, sometimes, the smallest states have made the biggest win.
The heated nature of international climate negotiations can be illustrated by this year’s COP in Dubai. From the language dispute over fossil fuels, to the failure of Article 6, and the over-presence of fossil fuel lobbyists, many interlinked facets of the climate challenge come together at these COP negotiations.
What changes are needed to the UNFCCC system to overcome these deadlocks, to give voice to the voiceless, and representation to those who lack it?
This seminar of the EUI climate workshop will aim at unpacking some of the dynamics that shape international climate negotiations by inviting presentations from the following panelists:
· Prof. Alain Lempereur, EUI Chair in Leadership and Negotiation, who will contextualize COPs in negotiation theory and skills.
· Anna Ragnarsdottir, Policy Leader Fellow at the STG, and official of the Icelandic Ministry for Environment, Energy and Climate, who will discuss the presence and influence of small delegations at COP.
· Piotr Dombrowicki, Research Associate at STG Climate, official of the Polish Climate Change Negotiations Team, and member of the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body, who will the discuss the latter’s failure to reach an agreement at this year’s COP.