An Analysis Of The History Of Global Climate Governance And Climate Policies Of The European Union, China And The United States

Climate change was merely an environmental issue initially. Not until 1980s late did it formally transform into an international political issue. After that, the international negotiation process of climate regimes was initiated and has gone through innumerable difficulties and setbacks during its evolvement period, which is up to more than 20 years. In order to prevent climate change evolving into a"Tragedy of the Commons", and to instruct the international cooperation, it is crucial to construct international regimes. However, since certain greenhouse gas emission space is essential for every nation to achieve growth in the future, fierce competition arises among States. Hence, it leads to the deadlock of post-Kyoto era climate talks. The contribution of major powers is of great importance to break the current deadlock and promote success of international regimes construction. The European Union, China and the United States, which are three key actors, will largely determine the prospect of global climate governance.