Advancing multilateral cooperation on climate action: ideas for new initiatives across four policy areas and how to use existing international venues as stepping stones : final report
In: Climate change 2021, 70
In: Ressortforschungsplan of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
Multilateral cooperation initiatives (or "climate clubs") can generate some of the additional action that is needed to achieve the goals agreed in the Paris Agreement. An analysis of the state of collaboration in the four policy areas energy transition, synthetic fuels, food systems and forest protection identified several possible additional themes and formats for additional initiatives. A number of these are highlighted as particularly promising following specific analyses of opportunities provided in the context of the UNFCCC, the G7 and G20 and through the pro-climate action agenda of the Biden Administration in the US. Expert consultations have further highlighted the need for a focus on access to sustainable finance as a key horizontal topic for targeted multilateral collaboration and also pointed to the strategic consideration of a sequential use of political fora to promote new initiatives. The analysis reveals diversity in the landscape of international cooperation across these policy areas. They differ in several ways: the extent to which countries are already cooperating, the scope of multilateral initiatives and what instruments are available to them vary. Those factors depend on the development of the policy area itself, but also on (perceived and real) political support for action. Thus, advancing multilateral cooperation on climate change in specific policy fields requires smartly addressing multiple channels and processes for which this report presents potential starting points.