Changing the Balance: Governmental and Non-governmental Developments

Abstract

The complexity of the Kyoto process was not only due to the many layers of diplomacy. Governments also had to play domestic policy games. Indeed, it was primarily the major players’ domestic options and constraints that influenced the prospects for a successful outcome at Kyoto. Given that the Kyoto Protocol was designed to introduce targets and timetables for industrialised countries, the following section will elaborate some developments in the European Union, the US, and the other JUSSCANNZ members. As developments within the nongovernmental world also had an important impact in the run-up to Kyoto, the chapter will conclude with a description of the diverse developments in the business community and the activities of environmental NGOs.