Conclusion

Abstract

Given the complexity of the actors and institutions involved in the climate regime complex, greater understanding of the relations between state and non-state participants is required. Evaluating the success of this regime complex is therefore also about looking at the social processes that drive climate change-related policymaking. Decisions need to be equitable and address the wide-ranging concerns held both by those communities most at risk from climate change and broader society. The rise of a whole series of new policy instruments points to the regulatory and implementation deficits permeating existing multilateral regimes. But the legitimacy of both new and old institutional approaches — in so far as they deliver long-term solutions that reduce the threat of climate change — is as yet unknown. Given the billions of dollars that will begin to flow into financing climate change response mechanisms, the choice confronting the global community is whether it is more appropriate to redesign governance frameworks by improving existing arrangements or create yet more new institutions.