Comparing the legitimacy of different international institutions addressing climate change

What is it about?

Since 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process has been widely viewed as the key international forum to discuss climate change. However, since the mid-2000s there has been a growing several ‘minilateral’ forums involving only a few powerful countries were created to address climate change including the Asia-Pacic Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP), the Major Economies Meetings (MEM) and Forum (MEF) organized by the United States, as well as the novel use of existing forums, such as the G8. In this paper we systematically compare the normative legitimacy of these forums. We discuss their difference in source-based, process-based, and outcome-based legitimacy and examine the power–legitimacy dynamics between minilateral forums and the UNFCCC,and demonstrate the value of looking beyond traditional notions of influence and effectiveness to understand the role minilateral forums have played in shaping global climate governance.

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Why is it important?

Many observers dismissed the influence of the minilateral forums created outside the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This paper shows that even if their legitimacy is consistently low they may still have had crucial impact on global climate governance and thus warrant close academic scrutiny.