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Introduction: exploring and explaining the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate

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Abstract

This introduction lays the groundwork for this Special Issue by providing an overview of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP), and by introducing three main analytical themes. The first theme concerns the emergence and continuation of the APP. The contributions show that the emergence of the APP can be attributed to international factors, including the United States’ rejection of the Kyoto Protocol, and its search for an alternative arena for global climate governance, and other countries’ wish to maintain good relations with the US; as well as domestic factors, such as the presence of bureaucratic actors in favour of the Partnership, alignment with domestic priorities, and the potential for reaping economic benefits through participation. The second theme examines the nature of the Partnership, concluding that it falls on the very soft side of the hard–soft law continuum and that while being branded as a public–private partnership, governments remain in charge. Under the third theme, the influence which the APP exerts on the post-2012 United Nations (UN) climate change negotiations is scrutinised. The contributions show that at the very least, the APP is exerting some cognitive influence on the UN discussions through its promotion of a sectoral approach. The introduction concludes with outlining areas for future research.

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Notes

  1. See http://www.asiapacificpartnership.org/english/faq.aspx, retrieved May 24, 2009.

  2. Interview, Jan Adams, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government, 1 December 2006.

  3. See http://www.asiapacificpartnership.org/english/project_roster.aspx, retrieved April 29, 2009.

  4. Ibid.

  5. See http://www.app.gov/library/111306.htm, retrieved May 17, 2009.

  6. Interview, Jan Adams, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government, 1 December 2006.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Interview, official, US State Department, 12 March 2008.

  9. Interview, Jan Adams, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government, 1 December 2006.

  10. JUSCANZ refers to Japan, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

  11. However, on several issues, such as the International Criminal Court, the US and Australian positions diverged, with Australia as a strong supporter of this radical strengthening of international law and the US strongly opposing it (Lawrence 2009, this issue).

  12. Interview John Daley, Australian Industry Greenhouse Network, 29 November 2006.

  13. Frank Biermann, 15 June 2009, Personal communication.

  14. Article 2(1) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

  15. Interview, Jan Adams, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government, 1 December 2006.

  16. Interview, Jan Adams, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government, 1 December 2006; Interview, official, US State Department, 12 March 2008.

  17. However, many of the rather sweeping assumptions on the character of hard and soft law which we refer to here are made without considering the significant diversity within these norm categories, and/or have weak empirical basis for comparison (Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen and Vihma 2009).

  18. See Scharpf (1999) for a discussion of output and input legitimacy.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Steinar Andresen, Frank Biermann, Harriet Bulkeley, Peter Lawrence, Jeff McGee and Antto Vihma for their comments on an earlier draft. The research was in part conducted under the project Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies: Supporting European Climate Policy (ADAM), financed by DG Research of the European Commission under the Sixth Framework Programme 2002–2006, Priority 1.1.6.3, Global Change and Ecosystems. Harro van Asselt would furthermore like to thank the Canon Foundation Europe for the financial support for the research stay at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Finland Futures Research Centre, Turku School of Economics, Pinninkatu 47, 33100, Tampere, Finland

    Sylvia I. Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen

  2. Department of Environmental Policy Analysis, Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Harro van Asselt

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  1. Sylvia I. Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen
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Correspondence to Sylvia I. Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen.

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Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen, S.I., van Asselt, H. Introduction: exploring and explaining the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. Int Environ Agreements 9, 195–211 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-009-9103-0

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