Comparative Analysis of Decision-making Processes of the Developed Countries towards CO2 Emissions Reduction Target

Kawashima, Y. (1995). Comparative Analysis of Decision-making Processes of the Developed Countries towards CO2 Emissions Reduction Target. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-95-106

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Abstract

This working paper aims to determine the most influential factors for countries' decision-making policies towards international negotiations on the climate change convention from the late 1980s to 1992. A thorough interview survey with the same questions posed to all the interviewees is organised to achieve this aim. This study selects five developed countries -- the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States -- to compare the decision-making process of each country. The author introduces six major factors that are likely to affect their decision-making: impact, economic cost, domestic politics, international politics, effectiveness of the convention, and learning. These factors are evaluated by those who were actually involved in the decision-making of their respective countries. It is concluded from the survey that (1) political leadership within the country was the major factor for the countries that played the leadership role in the negotiation, (2) pressure from other countries was the major factor for the countries that gradually became positive towards the negotiation, and (3) economic cost necessary to reduce the CO2 emissions was the major factor for the countries that oppose to the strong commitments in the convention. The structure of this paper is as follows: a brief background on the positions the five countries took during the negotiation, a description on the method of the interview survey, results of the survey and discussions obtained from the results.

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