Global Climate Change Governance: The Efficacy of Multilateral Approaches

Abstract

The struggle to combat climate change is a challenge facing humanity. Mitigating climate change effects requires the involvement of everyone, from every citizen to every government. In years past, the international community has been involved in negotiating several multilateral climate agreements. One of the motivations for such agreements is the belief that securing cooperation amongst States will induce greater support for climate action. Voters during the negotiation process may be more willing to adopt costly policies if other countries do so, because the efforts of other countries make it more likely that multilateral agreement will be effective. The research aim is to show that the public approval of climate action is independent of the policy choices made by other countries. This research using the doctrinal research methodology aims to underscore the point that multilateralism makes climate policy more appealing by improving effectiveness beliefs and fair burden-sharing. The article recommends that multilateralism significantly increases public approval of costly climate action and pursuing climate action within a multilateral setting will not only promise improved policy impacts, but will generate higher levels of support within the global community.