Lessons from the Paris Agreement for Multilateral Cooperation

Abstract: The Paris Agreement on Climate Change was agreed in December 2015 to much fanfare, and a great deal of relief for the meeting organizers as well as the global sustainable development community. The Agreement followed a failed approach to limiting greenhouse gas emissions and a failed negotiation process, and negotiators were intent to not repeat these failures. Despite favorable global political situation and technological advances that would make it easier to reach agreement than in previous years, reaching an agreement required a great deal of work to ensure all possible diplomatic levers were deployed and to foster a well-managed bargaining and negotiating process. This analysis of the negotiations on the Paris Agreement considers ways in which shifting geopolitical dynamics were incorporated into negotiation strategies, strategies were deployed to overcome deadlocks in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) multilateral setting, and small countries and civil society contributed to the narrative that success was necessary and possible in Paris. This important case study demonstrates how the procedures and practices identified by negotiation theorists since de Callieres (1716) can bring nations together to address shared challenges. It also demonstrates the challenges involved with doing so successfully.

Keywords: international negotiation process, climate change, Paris Agreement