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Strategies for achieving serious international cooperation on climate change: theory and practice
David Victor, Professor of International Relations; Co-director, Laboratory on International Law and Regulation, UC San Diego
Date: Thursday 7 February 2019
Time: 17:30-18:45 followed by drinks
Venue: Yusuf Hamied Theatre, Christ's College (map)
The Paris Agreement was a big step forward on climate change diplomacy, but disturbing news is now emerging around whether Paris is actually working.
Emissions keep rising; warming is accelerating; efforts to reach diplomatic agreement even on topics that should be straightforward are faltering. This talk will offer a diagnosis of whether the Paris process is likely to work along with gameplans—for science, industry and government—to help make Paris more effective. It will also summarise what political scientists have learned from research on other areas of international cooperation—about why climate change has proved difficult to address so far and the kinds of lessons that might be learned from effective cooperation in financial policy, trade policy and others—that can guide policy reforms on climate change.
It will argue that some of the most conspicuous threats to Paris—such as the Trump administration’s plans to withdraw—are not that threatening while other areas of climate diplomacy such as the creation of effective policy review mechanisms under Paris are vital. A few words will be offered, as well, on the rising risk of unilateral geoengineering.
David Victor is professor of international relations at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy and co-director of the Laboratory on International Law and Regulation at the School. His research focuses on highly regulated industries.
Dr Rob Doubleday
Centre for Science and Policy, University of Cambridge
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Strategies for achieving serious international cooperation on climate change
In the final seminar of the series, David Victor, Professor of International Relations and Co-director, Laboratory on International Law and Regulation, UC San Diego, discusses the current state of international cooperation on climate change and how to make it more effective.