Article: Treaty framing and climate science: challenges in managing the risk of global warming Journal: International Journal of Global Environmental Issues (IJGENVI) 2020 Vol.19 No.1/2/3 pp.273 - 293 Abstract: In this article we confront the yawning gap between necessary GHG emission reduction targets set by climate scientists and the results of decades-long international treaty negotiations and meetings. We find that, 30 years after the treaty process commenced, this gap is still growing. The treaty process first tried a top-down approach, in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and later a bottom-up one, in the 2015 Paris Agreement, but so far the later results have proved no better than the earlier ones. We suggest, therefore, that a different approach should be implemented. We propose that the advanced economies should begin, as soon as possible, subsidising a massive program to promote decarbonisation in the still developing economies by providing free of charge, a very extensive array of non-fossil-fuel technologies and facilities. At the end of this article we refer to a specific framework within which this mission could be carried out. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Treaty framing and climate science: challenges in managing the risk of global warming

Authors: William Leiss; Michael G. Tyshenko; Patricia Larkin; Daniel Krewski

Addresses: School of Policy Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada; R. Samuel McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, University of Ottawa, Canada ' Risk Sciences International, Ottawa, Canada ' R. Samuel McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, University of Ottawa, Canada ' Risk Sciences International, Ottawa, Canada; R. Samuel McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, University of Ottawa, Canada

Abstract: In this article we confront the yawning gap between necessary GHG emission reduction targets set by climate scientists and the results of decades-long international treaty negotiations and meetings. We find that, 30 years after the treaty process commenced, this gap is still growing. The treaty process first tried a top-down approach, in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and later a bottom-up one, in the 2015 Paris Agreement, but so far the later results have proved no better than the earlier ones. We suggest, therefore, that a different approach should be implemented. We propose that the advanced economies should begin, as soon as possible, subsidising a massive program to promote decarbonisation in the still developing economies by providing free of charge, a very extensive array of non-fossil-fuel technologies and facilities. At the end of this article we refer to a specific framework within which this mission could be carried out.

Keywords: environmental treaty law; Paris Agreement; climate forcing; climate science; greenhouse gas targets; risk; global warming.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGENVI.2020.114882

International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, 2020 Vol.19 No.1/2/3, pp.273 - 293

Received: 03 Dec 2019
Accepted: 27 Oct 2020
Published online: 10 May 2021 *

Title: Treaty framing and climate science: challenges in managing the risk of global warming

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