The Prospect for Multilateral Cooperation on Climate Change

The Peterson Institute and the World Resources Institute (WRI) cohosted a half-day conference on "The Prospect for Multilateral Cooperation on Climate Change" on May 20, 2010. The conference highlights included discussion over challenges faced by the international community in its ability to address global climate change as evidenced in the December 2009 Copenhagen summit and the release of a new policy brief analyzing the details of Senators Kerry and Lieberman's draft legislation, the American Power Act, unveiled May 12, 2010. Visiting Fellow Trevor Houser presented the policy brief summarizing the economic, employment, energy security, and environmental impacts of the draft legislation released by Senators Kerry and Lieberman.

Panel discussants explored an emerging patchwork of multilateral engagements on climate change and discussed the prospects for advancing negotiations. The chaos at the Copenhagen summit and consensus-driven nature of the UN negotiating process has left many participants searching for other avenues for advancing cooperation, such as the Major Economies Forum, meetings of the BASIC countries, the Cartagena Dialogue process, and the Petersberg Climate Dialogue. The conference also addressed how one of the most challenging issues in climate change diplomacy—adapting existing international institutions to a world in which emerging economies play a central role in addressing global issues—is playing out in international trade and economic affairs; how participation, responsibility and equity are being defined; and what these developments portend for upcoming climate change talks.

Event Materials

Policy Brief: Assessing the American Power Act: The Economic, Employment, Energy Security and Environmental Impact of Senator Kerry and Senator Lieberman's Discussion Draft
Trevor Houser, Shashank Mohan, and Ian Hoffman
May 20, 2010

Presentation: Assessing the American Power Act [pdf]
Trevor Houser
May 20, 2010

Presentation: A Way Forward after Copenhagen [pdf]
Jennifer Morgan
May 20, 2010

Working Paper 10-6: Toward a Sunny Future? Global Integration in the Solar PV Industry
Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, Thilo Hanemann, Lutz Weischer, and Matt Miller
May 20, 2010

Policy Brief 10-5: Copenhagen, the Accord, and the Way Forward
Trevor Houser
March 2010

Policy Brief 10-4: After the Flop in Copenhagen
Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Jisun Kim
March 2010

RealTime: Evaluating Copenhagen: Does the Accord Meet the Challenge?
Trevor Houser
February 4, 2010

RealTime: Reconciling Climate Change Goals with the Needs of Developing Countries
Arvind Subramanian
December 14, 2009

Agenda