INTRODUCTION

The second half of this book focuses on the cosmopolitan assessment of the global response to climate change, both multilateral and transnational. The previous chapter argued that global climate change governance actors must be held responsible for enabling a condition of justice in the case of climate change and set out a methodological framework to assess to what extent these actors meet their responsibilities. It was explained that both multilateral actors under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and non-state actors involved in transnational climate change governance processes have a moral responsibility to enable a condition of justice, due to their capability of restructuring the social and political context so that the three demands defended in this book can be met. However, it was also argued that multilateral actors have formal authority to act and are therefore most responsible for enabling a condition of justice in the case of climate change.

The purpose of the current chapter is therefore to assess to what extent multilateral actors enable the three demands of justice developed in Part I of the book. Further to this, the chapter aims to provide a broad-brush overview of multilateral climate change governance. This will allow readers to develop an understanding of the multilateral climate change response, which has been under way since 1995. Taking each demand of justice in turn, the chapter will focus on the normative commitments made in the Convention as well as assessing the policies set out in the Kyoto Protocol and examining what has been achieved so far by multilateral actors. Following on from this discussion, the chapter will consider to what extent the Paris Agreement presents a change from existing policies. In this way, the chapter provides a historical overview of multilateral climate change action, as well as looking to the future. The final part of the chapter summarises the findings made, discussing what to look out for in the run-up to the Paris Agreement being implemented. This will be expanded on in the conclusion of the book.

MULTILATERAL CLIMATE CHANGE GOVERNANCE: A JUSTICE-BASED EVALUATION

Before the assessment of multilateral climate change governance can commence, the chapter must briefly explain how this assessment will be conducted. The assessment will proceed in three parts, focusing on one demand of justice at a time.