Contestation in the UNFCCC

Abstract

This chapter analyses contestation surrounding the issue of climate finance and its regulation in global climate regime, within the institutional boundaries of the UNFCCC. It focuses on the BRICS and several pivotal NGO coalitions, including the Climate Action Network and the International Chamber of Commerce. Using techniques of qualitative content analysis, the chapter outlines the shifts on positions and conflict lines over time as a result of a change in status of at least some of the BRICS states. While the chapter shows that the BASIC coalition (formed by Brazil, South Africa, India, and China as part of the Copenhagen summit in 2009) has lost cohesion, the results also present the BRICS states as defenders, rather than challengers, of the institutional status quo, particularly when it comes to the continued relevance of the central norm of the UNFCCC original treaty, the ‘Common But Differentiated Responsibilities’. Particularly the conflict over who should take on the responsibility to pay for mitigation divides the community of transnational NGOs, which has been shown to lower their overall impact.