Climate Cooperation Disparities: An Analysis of the Global South’s Limited Participation in Intergovernmental Cooperation on Climate Change Mitigation
This working paper reveals a complex and fragmented landscape of intergovernmental cooperation on climate change mitigation efforts. Surveying ninety-three intergovernmental initiatives, on first glance, geographical participation appears broad. However, detailed analysis shows representation from the Global South is critically low across key sectors. This paper highlights how initiatives are largely dominated by developed countries and the top emitters from each sector, underscoring the opportunity for improved country participation from the Global South across key underrepresented sectors.
Summary:
Since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, many intergovernmental mitigation initiatives have been launched, spanning all sectors. Engagement on first glance seems broad, with all but three countries engaged in at least one international initiative, and broad representation across country groups. However, deeper analysis and visibility into the landscape of intergovernmental cooperation to mitigate climate change has been limited.
Building on an earlier working paper which assessed the types, institutional foundations, and transparency arrangements of intergovernmental cooperative initiatives, this paper focuses on the extent to which all countries and regions are truly represented in these initiatives. Through quantitative analysis of ninety-three intergovernmental initiatives, it reveals stark differences in engagement between sectors, indicating that many countries from the Global South are not well represented across key sectors such as industry, transport and buildings.
Limited participation in intergovernmental mitigation initiatives limits access to benefits such as capacity-building, information sharing and collaborative support. More transparency and understanding of the coverage and diversity of international cooperative initiatives can help inform greater efforts to make cooperation around mitigation efforts more inclusive and effective.
Key Findings:
Representation among country groups varies widely:
- Developed countries and the top 10 emitters from each sector dominate the intergovernmental cooperation landscape.
- Representation of the country groups Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) is critically low in most sectors except agriculture and forests.
- Latin America enjoys larger representation than other groups from the Global South, but with differences between higher- and lower-income countries, with the latter lacking representation in all sectors except agriculture.
- Representation of country groups from Africa, Asia, and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) varies by sector, although values are low overall.
Representation by sector:
- Energy supply: Initiatives draw wide representation from all groups, with only four countries not included in any initiative. However, only a few initiatives in this sector engage over 10 percent of countries from most groups in the Global South.
- Industry: The sector with the least representation, with 130 governments not participating in any initiative, and 73% of these initiatives don’t include LDCs.
- Transport: 89 governments are not engaged in cooperative initiatives, and initiatives lack representation of SIDS, LDCs and EECA.
- Buildings: Representation is relatively more balanced, with high coverage from Africa, Latin America as well as developed countries and top 10 emitters, but with other country groups close to zero.
- Agriculture: The most inclusive with all but 27 countries participating in at least one initiative.
- Forests: Good cooperation, with only 39 governments lacking engagement. But 79 percent of forest initiatives do not include EECA and MENA representation.
- Cross-cutting issues: All but 34 governments engage in such initiatives, yet developed countries are the only group for which a high percentage of initiatives provide significant coverage.
Executive Summary:
Engagement in intergovernmental climate initiatives across sectors strengthens countries’ capacities to reach climate mitigation goals. This WRI working paper reveals a complex and fragmented landscape of intergovernmental cooperation. On first glance, representation appears broad; however, detailed quantitative analysis shows representation from the Global South is critically low across key sectors, except for agriculture. This analysis highlights how initiatives are largely dominated by developed countries and the top ten emitters of each sector. Greater transparency around climate mitigation cooperative initiatives can help inform efforts to ensure countries are better represented, that initiatives are more inclusive and effective, and can help ensure participation and engagement across sectors is more even.
Preview image by Abhishek Chinnappa / Climate Visuals Countdown
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