ABSTRACT
In the past few years, there have been dramatic changes in the international political situation surrounding climate change, which is in the process of transformation from being a “low politics” to a “high politics” issue-placing it at the center of international politics. Since the Group of Eight (G8) Gleneagles Summit hosted by the United Kingdom in 2005, climate change has become one of the most important topics addressed at this annual meeting of heads of state of the eight leading economies, and indeed, host country Japan announced that climate change will be the most prominent topic at the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit in 2008. On April 17, 2007, the United Nations Security Council discussed the issue of climate change for the first time. In early September that year, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) also addressed climate change as a key topic, and it was also the theme of the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly at the end of that month. The selection
of Nobel Peace Prize laureates in 2007 is a clear symbol of these developments, as the award went jointly to Al Gore, who had awakened public concern about the issue with his documentary film “An Inconvenient Truth”, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It would not be exaggerating to say that climate change is now recognized as one of the most important international political issues today.
