A framework for assessing the political economy of post-2012 global climate regime

We propose a dynamic framework that facilitates the evaluation of international climate change policy proposals in order to assess their viability in the current political environment. Our analysis encompasses three dimensions. Firstly, we define concerns and challenges at stake in the negotiations. Secondly, we break down policy options proposed in the literature into constituent building blocks. Thirdly, we analyse the spectrum of interests expressed in the past by prominent country groups in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations. We present a dynamic framework that can be continuously updated to assess the political viability of policy proposals. To illustrate the functioning of our framework, we apply it to three highly-developed policy alternatives: the Kyoto Protocol, the Contraction and Convergence proposal and the US government’s Global Climate Change Policy Book. Our tool can be utilized for assessing the adequacy in terms of width of issues and depth of political support as well as developing new policy options in a participatory process.