Road to Paris COP21: Towards Soft Global Governance for Climate Change?

7 Pages Posted: 8 Dec 2014

See all articles by Rafael Leal-Arcas

Rafael Leal-Arcas

Alfaisal University

Luigi Carafa

College of Europe, Bruges

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: December 6, 2014

Abstract

This article explores recent climate policy developments in China, the United States (US), and the European Union (EU), as well as their implications for a new global climate regime, expected in December 2015 in Paris. The road to Paris is marked by a shift from global efforts to domestic actions on climate change mitigation, as well as a move from commitments to contributions to carbon emissions reduction. It is argued that the new regime is moving towards a voluntary national pledge and review system which deviates from the EU's desire for a legally binding climate treaty, bringing any Paris deal closer to the US's and China's vision of soft global governance for climate change. This puts a big question mark on whether and how a soft regime could potentially achieve an atmospheric CO2 concentration below 450 parts per million in order to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

Suggested Citation

Leal-Arcas, Rafael and Carafa, Luigi, Road to Paris COP21: Towards Soft Global Governance for Climate Change? (December 6, 2014). Queen Mary School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 186/2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2534740

Rafael Leal-Arcas (Contact Author)

Alfaisal University ( email )

P.O. Box 50927
Riyadh, 11533
Saudi Arabia

Luigi Carafa

College of Europe, Bruges ( email )

Belgium

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
324
Abstract Views
1,481
Rank
80,964
PlumX Metrics