ABSTRACT

It is today commonly argued that international climate politics is moving into a new era. With the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol in February 2005, many years of multilateral negotiations resulted in a legally binding agreement with quantitative targets that commit industrialized countries to reductions in national greenhouse gas emissions until 2012. However, the route set out by the Kyoto Protocol is far from uncontested and contemporary post-2012 negotiations speak of new ways of making climate policy in the future. In this debate the notion of a stringent multilateral agreement with negotiated emission targets and timetables is increasingly challenged by decentralized, market-oriented and partnership-based narratives calling for more flexible, cost-effective and participatory means to manage anthropogenic climate change.