No rocking of the boat

Lars Engberg-Pedersen in a new DIIS Report, Climate change negotiations and their implications for international development cooperation, discusses the implications of climate change negotiations for the organisation of development cooperation. He argues that the climate change negotiations are largely framed as a South-North struggle. Given the normative principles characterising the negotiations, such as 'the polluter pays', 'common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capacities', and 'per capita emission rights', the South has a different and stronger bargaining position vis-à-vis the North in climate change negotiations compared to development cooperation. With a global deal on climate change the implications for how to organise development cooperation could be far-reaching.

However, as the South is a heterogeneous group of countries, as a variety of initiatives by countries in the North undermine the UNFCCC framework and as a global deal is as far away as ever, the likely consequences for development cooperation are limited in the near future. Rather the relationship between climate change negotiations and development cooperation may be one of mutual learning. On particular points, the former appears to be inspired by the latter.

The DIIS Report has been written by Lars Engberg-Pedersen as part of a study called 'Global reforms in light of the economic crisis' commissioned by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Two other products of this study are The G20 and beyond and The World Bank and the emerging world order.