Climate Governance and Climate Change and Society

Accelerated climate change and increasing variability is the single greatest threat to humanity. Despite more extreme weather events across the world there appears to be a lack of urgency in reaching an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This chapter reviews the evolution of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and argues that the governance of the convention is a mess and the reliance on market based measures are unlikely to produce the reduction in emissions that are needed if we are to avoid dangerous climate change. This chapter posits that the society is missing from the governance of climate change. The current debate is dominated by climate scientists as well as economists, but those that will be impacted the most, the people, have little or no voice. That must change.