Robyn Eckersley speaks at Annual Melbourne-LSE Lecture

London School of Economics – University of Melbourne 2016 public lecture by Prof. Robyn Eckersley, hosted by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate eckersleyChange and the Environment and chaired by Dr. Robert Falkner

Most parties and observers acknowledge that the rapid ratcheting up of mitigation action and climate finance provision by developed countries is the key to unlocking enhanced mitigation in developing countries, and that both developments are essential if the Paris Agreement is to meet its long term goals and targets. Yet the responses by developed countries to the international expectation that their differentiated responsibilities require them to lead in mitigation (whether by moving early and/or doing more) shows considerable variation, ranging from cautious acceptance to cavalier denial. This lecture reviews the troubled history of the international norm of developed country leadership and the findings of comparative climate politics that explain this variation. It also offers some proposals on how the processes of reviewing NDCs might be strengthened to minimise the risk of self-differentiation degenerating into a self-serving apology for the protection of national interests.

Watch the lecture here: