Though many studies have looked into how TCNs formed their networks, how they share knowledge and expertise within their network and what their contribution has been on a local level, little is still known about their influence on...
moreThough many studies have looked into how TCNs formed their networks, how they share knowledge and expertise within their network and what their contribution has been on a local level, little is still known about their influence on international politics. And even less is known about the influence of TCNs on the climate change negotiations of the UNFCCC.
All life on this planet, including the quality of life for our children, is dependent on what the earth can provide. Clean air, water and food, safe areas to live. All of this is connected with the climate and climate change. It is expected that, when climate changes affects human lives more, citizens will seek for platforms to have influence on their political leaders.
TCNs, which are local and global at the same time (Betsill and Bulkeley 2004: 142), could provide citizens with such a platform.
So this mean that there is not only a gap in the literature on interest groups in international climate change negotiations, TCNs could potentially be a very influential interest group at the UNFCCC for their close connection to citizens and their voicing of these citizens’ concerns.
And these concerns could very well grow quickly, as in 2013 a working group on carbon emission policy and regulation held at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, concluded that all the efforts to design and implement treaties to control climate change have had “modest practical results in terms of curbing emissions” (Lucon et al. 2013: 938).
The focus of this thesis will therefore be on the influence of TCNs on the Climate Change Regime.
This leads to the following research question:
What is the influence of TCNs on the policy outcomes of the climate change negotiations compared to the influence of other interest groups?
