Location: New York, USA
Date: 20 - 21 September, 2004
Hosted by: Council on Foreign Relations

Context: Climate change is contentious for a multitude of reasons. The dominant causal factors arise from processes that supply 80% of civilization's energy; the technologies involved cannot be quickly or inexpensively replaced. There are powerful and diverse industrial interests at stake including the internationally oriented energy-intensive industry, the domestic sector, the power production sector, fossil fuel producers and the agricultural industry. Further, there is a differentiation of obligations regarding future committments.

Across the literature, the complexity of climate change problems has spawned a diverse array of approaches for addressing problems with existing and future frameworks for analyzing climate change, and attempting to deal with and mitigate its impacts. These attempt to understand the problem of climate change through various lenses, while each present a different aspect of the problem. A G20 at Leader's level could address some of the issues that require resolution such as: the level and type of participation; the rights and obligations of countries; developing country participation; the taxonomy of rules and guidelines for target-setting; and determining the supporting policy instruments.

Papers

Joseph Aldy & Jeffrey Frankel		Designing a Regime of Emission Commitments for Developing
Richard Cooper		A Global Carbon Tax?
Richard Morgenstern		Climate Policy Instruments: The Case for the Safety Valve
Michael Oppenheimer & Annie Petsonk		Reinvigorating the Kyoto System and Beyond: Maintaining the Fundamental Architecture, Meeting Long Term Goals
Jiahua Pan		Common but Differentiated Commitments: A Practical Approach to Engaging Large Developing Emitters Under L20
Jiahua Pan		Corresponding Table
William Pizer		The Case for Intensity Targets
Nigel Purvis		Climate Change and the L20: Options for Non-Emission Target Commitments

Backgrounders

David G. Victor, Barry Carin and Margaret Winterkorn-Meikle		Climate Change at the L20?
Dr. David Victor, Director - Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, Stanford University		Post-Kyoto Architecture: Climate Policy