Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change'

With the changing political, economic, cultural and environmental landscape of global societies, journalistic writings on social development issues and concerns have become more relevant in recent times. Through civic advocacy journalism (CAJ), the agenda and programs of social development movements, civil society groups, international development organizations and non-government organizations are promoted and advanced. It is essential to understand the forms and representations of CAJ in practice, concepts and theories in the light of its relevance to media practice and to society at large. However, there is very little literature on the scope and extent of CAJ knowledge and practice. A researcher needs to look into actual practice and connect this with available literature to establish the application of CAJ. For this study, a qualitative content analysis method was used to assess CAJ practice in online print media reports at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit.

This essay aims to research the climate change issue and the relationship social movements, scientist and policymakers have to climate change. Furthermore, this essay has a didactic perspective and aim to illuminate how the climate change issue can be used within the school subject social studies. The policy decided upon by the world leaders during the climate summit in Copenhagen, Cop15, will stand further from the scientific view of climate change in relation to sustainable development than what the social movements’ demands are. To find the relationship a case study have been made, where an observation at the alternative forum Klimaforum09 was made to establish what relationship social movements have with policymakers and scientists. A close reading of the IPCC Synthesis Report (AR4) was made to see the scientific view on climate change and the relationship to policymakers and social movements. The relationship policymakers have with science and social movements have not been researched, since the Cop15 did not result in a global deal. Despite that there was no deal the thesis have been investigated, and the result is that social movements have a close, but critical relationship towards both world leaders and politicians, and to the scientific view of climate change. It is also suggested that science have a relationship to social movements. The thesis cannot be refuted or confirmed.

Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
Bibliography
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The politics of climate change has thus far been marked by controversy and a lack of consensus in regards to the best manner in which to comprehend and mitigate this problem. This is further aggravated by the characterisation of climate change as a global problem requiring a global solution which has served to only further complicate inter-state relations. While a number of analysts have remarked that the North-South relationship is no longer a meaningful analytical tool in international relations, it will be the purpose of this study to explore this contention within the field of climate change negotiations and to identify both the transformation and continuity within the relationship between the North and South. The unsuccessful nature of climate negotiations are largely held to be the result of the rift between the North and South, where the issues relating to the global political economy are largely responsible for the lack of consensus being reached between developing and developed countries. All climate negotiations since the 1972 UN Conference on the Environment and Development have showcased the tension between the two regions in regards to climate change mitigation and their inability to overcome this fissure. More importantly, the ensuing Copenhagen Summit of 2009 further highlighted a rift amongst the developing countries of the South, and between the developed and developing countries. As a consequence, the main aim of the research will be to understand the character of the global interactions between the North and South in terms of the context of global environmental politics. It is also the purpose of this research to gain a more comprehensive account of the sequence of causation within this relationship which stalled the negotiating process and lastly, to understand the conceptual demarcations of the two terms in the post-Cold War era so as to better understand the nature of the relationship between the two regions. What may be surmised by the study is that there is still a continuity to be found in the international arena pertaining to the North-South relationship. However, the Copenhagen Summit has been instrumental in showcasing the growing stratification that is found within the South and as a result has highlighted the cross-alliances that have formed between the North and South in order to maintain economic growth. Overall, while the North-South relationship does impact the nature of climate mitigation negotiations, the stratification of states based upon economic and developmental divergences will result in states forming alliances based upon economic self-interest.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die politiek van klimaatsverandering is tot dusver gekenmerk aan kontroversie en ‟n gebrek aan konsensus met betrekking tot die mees effektiewe wyse waarop hierdie probleem verstaan en gemitigeer kan word. Die probleem word verder vererger deur die kenmerk van klimaatsverandering as ‟n globale probleem wat ‟n globale oplossing verg, wat tot die verdere komplikasie van interstaat-verhoudings gelei het. Verskeie analiste het opgemerk dat die verhouding tussen die Noorde en Suide nie meer dien as betekenisvolle analitiese gereedskap op die gebied van internasionale verhoudings nie. Die doel van hierdie ondersoek is gevolglik om hierdie aanname in oënskou te neem, en om beide transformasie en kontinuïteit binne die verhouding tussen die Noorde en Suide te identifiseer. Die onsuksesvolle aard van klimaatsonderhandelinge word grootliks toegeskryf aan die onenigheid tussen die Noorde en Suide, met kwessies rondom die globale politieke ekonomie grootliks verantwoordelik vir die gebrek aan konsensus tussen die streke. Sedert die 1972 VN Konferensie oor die Omgewing en Ontwikkeling het alle klimaatsonderhandelinge die spanning tussen die twee streke met betrekking to klimaatveranderingsversagtings en hul onvermoë om hierdie skeur te oorbrug, ten toon gestel. Die 2009 Kopenhagen-beraad het ‟n onenigheid ontbloot tussen die ontwikkelende lande in die Suide en tussen ontwikkelende en ontwikkelde lande. Gevolglik is die hoofdoelstelling van hierdie studie om die aard van globale interaksies tussen die Noorde en Suide te verstaan met betrekking tot die konteks van globale omgewingspolitiek. Die doel van die navorsing is ook om ‟n meer omvattende verklaring te verkry oor die volgorde van oorsaaklike verbande binne hierdie verhouding wat die onderhandelingsproses tot stilstand gebring het en laastens, om die konseptuele afbakening van hierdie twee terme in die post-Koue Oorlog era en die aard van die verhouding tussen die twee streke beter te verstaan. Hierdie studie wys dat daar steeds kontinuïteit in die internasionale arena is met betrekking tot die verhouding tussen die Noorde en Suide. Die 2009 Kopenhagen-beraad was egter instrumenteel om die groeiende stratifikasie wat binne die Suide gevind word uit te lig, en die kruisalliansies wat tussen die Noorde en Suide gevorm is om ekonomiese groei in stand te hou, te beklemtoon. Alhoewel die verhouding tussen die Noorde en Suide tog ‟n impak op die aard van klimaatsversagtingsonderhandelings uitoefen, sal die stratifikasie van state wat op ekonomiese- en ontwikkelingsafwykings gebaseer is tot gevolg hê dat state alliansies vorm op grond van ekonomiese selfbelange.

In recent years climate change has been featured much more prominently in scholarly and public discourse. Especially since 2003 and 2007 the focus has shifted towards the security implications of climate change and the necessary measures to deal with climate change. The discourse commonly portrays climate change as a threat that substantially affects national and human security. Using frameworks of the Copenhagen School and Paris School, as well as discourse analysis, this thesis shows that climate change as a security issue is mainly understood in human security terms and seen to exacerbate already existing problems, such as poverty and food insecurity. The social and discursive construction of climate change as a security issue has influenced the policies and practices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as well as the United Nations Development Programme, as it has become a central element of their work. It is argued that the Paris School’s climatization framework has more analytical value for the security analysis of climate change than the Copenhagen School’s securitization theory.

Climate change is a type of prisoner’s dilemma. Reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are a public good and are costly to provide. Consequently, nation-states generally have done little to curb their emissions. Countries could be encouraged to reduce their emissions if the international community of states were to sanction, or the world were to shame, states that did not act. However, financial and technological aid is more likely to induce states to impose tougher restrictions on GHG emissions. In order for Copenhagen to precipitate major action on climate change the treaty must either compel countries to fulfill their obligations or assist states in transitioning their economies away from fossil fuels toward alternative energy sources. If the treaty fails to do both of these things then we can only hope that the largest producers of greenhouse gases either take steps to reduce their emissions voluntarily or are forced to take action in response to domestic pressure from their citizens and/or sub-national governments. Otherwise, we will have no choice but to adapt to an increasingly warmer planet and the consequences thereof.

The European Union has gained a reputation in recent years as a ʻgreenʼ leader, especially within the UNFCCC. That reputation perhaps amplified the perceived failure that occurred at the 15th Conference of Parties in December 2009 in Copenhagen. Why was Copenhagen such a disappointment? The post-modern character of the European Union—as a polity somewhere between a federal state and a international organization —has often made it difficult for the organization to take on a leadership role, nay operate, within the traditional international relations structure. The reasons for the EUʼs recent difficulty within the climate change regime may reside with two factors. First, an undeveloped sense of ʻactornessʼ on the part of the EU and, second, systemic problems within the regime itself. Here we analyze what happened at the Conference by looking at the development of the EUʼs role and polices within the climate change regime

Climate change is a critical sustainable development issue with implications for the environment, economies and society as we know it. The problem of climate change is caused by some countries in parts of the world that has a direct effect on people and natural resources in other parts of the world. Climate change is the effect of increased production of Greenhouse gases (GHGs). Due to the vast complexity of the climate change regime the study does not attempt to be comprehensive or conclusive. The aim of the study is to critically evaluate and determine the purpose, enforceability, legal nature, shortcomings and strengths of the non-binding Copenhagen Accord and how the international climate change regime will evolve after the Copenhagen Accord. The study starts with a brief explanation of the international climate change regime and its development, including international environmental law principles, specifically the common but differentiated responsibility principle. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has the ultimate objective to achieve the stabilisation of GHG concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The Conference of the Parties (COPs) is the ultimate decision-making and supreme body of the UNFCCC and is authorised to make and implement decisions to promote the implementation of the UNFCCC, it further has the power to adopt new protocols under the UNFCCC and plays a substantial role in the development of new obligations by the parties to the convention. Various COPs, their respective adopted decisions and resolutions which played an important role in the development of the climate change regime are discussed. This includes COP 1 that lead to the Berlin Mandate; COP 3 and the Kyoto Protocol; COP 7 and the Marrakech Accords; COP 11 that marked the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol; COP 13 and the Bali Action Plan. COP 15 in Copenhagen was internationally expected and intended to be the breakthrough in addressing the post 2012 period. As is evident from the content of this study the result of COP 15 at Copenhagen means different challenges for different countries and the “bottom up” architecture of the accord could help encourage and reinforce national actions. An overview of the effect of the Copenhagen Accord on the climate change regime, with specific reference to COP 16 in Cancun, is then done. The “bottom up” architecture of the Copenhagen Accord was brought into the official UNFCCC process by the Cancun Agreements that were reached at COP 16. The study mostly comprised of a literature study, which reviewed the relevant international environmental law dealing with climate change, taking into account customary international law; international treaties and conventions; government documents, policies and reports; textbooks and academic journals as well as electronic material obtained from various internet sources.
Thesis (LLM (Environmental Law and Governance))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

Being the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter and second largest economy, China’s role in international climate negotiations has been the topic of much heated debate over the past 10 years. However, few studies have sought to understand China ́s role in the Global Environmental Governance and Chinese leadership therefore remains a lacuna in need of further investigation. This generates one central question: How does leadership theory bring insight into China ́s role in the international climate change negotiations? The research is designed as a qualitative case study, applying an analytical framework by Young (1991). A content analysis in conjunction with the analytical framework is applied to policy documents, speeches and official reports produced by the Chinese Government, UNFCCC and IISD as a way to understand China ́s negotiation strategies and climate change goals. The findings suggest that China has shown weak leadership during the climate summit in 2009, since there was a huge lack of leadership capabilities applied in their negotiation strategies. However, in 2015 China met all leadership indicators to a certain degree and can therefore be seen to have exercised strong leadership capabilities. It can therefore be argued, that China has become a leading actor in the climate change regime due to their shift in negotiation approach from 2009 to 2015, through their influence and position in shaping the global climate change agenda.

Ever since the governments began to meet for the Conferences of the Parties (COP) to try to come to agreement over an international climate agreement, civil society organizations involved in the climate issue have also gathered for their own conferences in relation to the COP. Still the role of these re-occurring “COP counter summits” in global climate governance have not been researched in depth. In order to contribute to a better understanding of the role the COP counter summit in climate governance in general, the aim of this study is to conduct a qualitative single-case study of one of these meetings. This is carried out by a field study to the COP counter summit in Paris 2015 with methods of participatory observation and semi-structured interviews with informants. An analytical framework was developed based on theory within related research fields, like parallel summits, social movements and globalization studies. The study contributes with research about what functions of the COP counter summit in Paris had for civil society and how these functions were performed.

This thesis examines the language of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement through the lens of security. It departs from the observation that the securitized rhetoric on climate change is not matched with the kind of policies such rhetoric would suggest is necessary. Previous research on the impact off raming climate change in security terms have either argued that the security discourse has been rejected and thus also policies such an understanding would entail – or that the paradoxical nature of climate change as a threat (to continue the way we live we most change the way we live) makes a securitized understanding not yield in extra-ordinary policies. I argue that neither of these explanations are sufficient to explain the lack of ‘extra-ordinary policies’ on climate change. Instead, I claim that the reason for the lack of extra ordinary policies regarding climate change is that despite some of its rhetoric about the threat of climate change, the intersubjective understanding between the United Nation and its members expressed in the multilateral environmental agreements is structured in a way not to push a securitized understanding of climate change. By structuring the threat of climate change as threat to human security and development, as well as emphasizing the need for a fairness based approach, the agreements limits what policies are possible.

Climate change is one of the biggest threats the world is currently facing and it seems that people are able to significantly influence this threat. In order for people to understand the urgency of fighting climate change it is important that they are well informed and that they understand how their actions can matter. In this research, a quantitative content analysis with a discourse analytical approach is used to analyze a selection of articles by the BBC online covering the annual United Nations climate summits between 2008 and 2018 with a focus on their usage of constructive elements. The amount of negative statements in the articles is as big as the positive and hopeful statements together and in most cases the articles lack background information. Although the BBC uses many different perspectives in their articles, there is a lot of room to improve their articles by including more constructive elements. They could provide more background information to issues, quotes, and statements used in their articles and rather than only stating existing and possible problems they could include more solutions and focus more on the future.

This thesis analyzes EU international climate policy discourses around the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, its entry‐into‐force and the COP15‐negotiations in Copenhagen. Using EU‐press releases and employing Hajer’s argumentative approach, the main focus lies on discursive shifts and self representation. The thesis finds considerable discursive shifts, including a changing role of science, global responsibility and the economy. Findings also include the self‐representation of the EU changing from an emerging to an established and powerful actor but with a sharp rupture after COP15.

Leadership has been claimed to be a critical determinant of success and failure in international negotiations. This thesis brings together the study of leadership in multilateral negotiations with the emerging discipline of climate change-induced human mobility. This is done by investigating the prevalence of leadership in the climate change and human mobility nexus, looking at three different actors: the Alliance of Small Island States, Bangladesh and Norway. These actors were analyzed in two different ways: first, by describing how each actor exercise leadership using an analytical framework informed by leadership theories. Second, by investigating whether these actors seem to be recognized as leaders by others, conducting and analyzing a survey from the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2018, COP24. The results indicate that all three actors can be said to exercise leadership in the area of climate change-induced migration, although they exercise leadership in slightly different ways. Out of the three actors that were analyzed, AOSIS was the only actor that seemed to be recognized by others as a leader in the effort to address climate change-induced human mobility.

Since the US election in the fall of 2016, China have been looked towards to fill a leadership position in climate change negotiations. This essay focuses on determining China's efficiency in the COP15 and COP22 negotiations in establishing its ambitions and policy objectives. The results show that China was very effective in achieveing their policy aims both at COP15 and COP22 even if the negotiations had different aims. The overall performance of China has affected the COP outcomes and helped its establishment of a leadership role within the group of developing countries in the UNFCCC. This essay also shows that the prior expectation for a UNFCCC climate change negotiation might be a better explanatory factor than institutional goal in determining policy objectives in effectiveness studies.

Climate change impose a major challenge to the world. About 23% of the world’s energy-related CO2 emissions derive from transportation. Urban freight transport has been increasing because of a growing demand for goods. Cities need to manage freight transportation to decrease its climate change impact. The purpose of this study is to investigate what the cities Gothenburg, Copenhagen, and Turku need in order to manage urban freight transport and what measures the cities have adapted to reduce the CO2 emissions deriving from urban freight transport. The study aims to reflect upon how the elements included in the practice of municipal freight transport management relate to the sustainable mobility paradigm and identify measures to decrease climate change impact and reach sustainable mobility. Social practice theory guided the analysis, where meanings, materials, and competences was searched for in the empirical material. Data was collected through a document analysis and interviews with employees at the cities’ administrations. The results showed that the reasons for managing freight is to reduce environmental and negative social impacts, ensure good ease of passage for freight transportation, strengthen the economy and create jobs, and avoid conflicting goals and find joint solutions. Needed materials are funding, guidelines, and personnel resources. Needed competences include taking a systems perspective, understanding the private sector, engaging in cooperation, seeking and managing funding, transport planning, and procurement and planning of the own municipal freight transportation. The need and behaviour that steers the freight transportation seem to be excluded from the freight transport management practice. This is the need for goods and its connected consumption behaviour. The cities’ adapted measures to reduce the climate change impact from freight transportation focus on technological and logistical improvements. The freight transport management practice includes features that are in line with the sustainable mobility paradigm as well as features that are not. To strengthen sustainable mobility, the inclusion of stakeholders when managing freight transport could be expanded to inhabitants and persons with competence in environmental and social aspects.
Klimatförändringar innebär en stor utmaning för världen. Ungefär 23% av världens energirelaterade CO2-utsläpp härstammar från transportsektorn. Urbana godstransporter fortsätter öka som ett resultat av en ökande efterfrågan på varor. Städer behöver hantera godstransportflöden för att minska klimatpåverkan från dem. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vad städerna Göteborg, Köpenhamn och Åbo behöver för att hantera godstransporter och vilka åtgärder de har antagit för att minska CO2-utsläppen från dem. Studiens mål är att reflektera kring hur elementen i den kommunala godstransportshanteringspraktiken förhåller sig till det hållbara mobilitetsparadigmet och identifiera möjliga åtgärder för att minska klimatpåverkan och nå hållbar mobilitet.   Social praktikteori guidade analysen där betydelser, material och kompetenser identifierades från det empiriska materialet. Data insamlades genom dokumentanalys samt genom intervjuer med anställda vid städerna. Resultatet visar att anledningarna till att hantera godstransporter är att minska miljöpåverkan, minska negativ social påverkan, säkerställa god framkomlighet för godstransporterna, stärka ekonomin och skapa jobb samt undvika målkonflikter och hitta gemensamma lösningar. Material som behövs inkluderar finansiering, riktlinjer samt personella resurser. Kompetenser som behövs är systemperspektiv, förståelse för den privata sektorn, söka och hantera finansiering, samarbetsförmåga, transportplanering samt upphandling och planering av stadens egna interna godstransporter. Behovet och beteendet som styr godstransporterna verkar vara exkluderat från praktiken. Detta är behovet av varor samt konsumtionsbeteendet som är kopplat till det. Åtgärderna som städerna har antagit för att minska klimatpåverkan från godstransporter fokuserar på tekniska och logistiska lösningar. Själva praktiken innehåller både drag som är i linje med det hållbara mobilitetsparadigmet och drag som inte är det. Den hållbara mobiliteten skulle stärkas ifall deltagandet breddas så att privatpersoner och personer med kompetens inom miljö och sociala aspekter också inkluderas i godstransporthanteringen.

A key challenge for sustainable urban development is to deal with the effects of climate change. To approach this issue, ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA), i.e. the use of ecosystem services for climate adaptation, has been promoted by both scholars and practitioners. In this context, the thesis addresses two research questions: how EbA is included in strategic climate adaptation planning and how EbA is implemented in practice. To tackle these topics, the study uses a multiple case study design, where the process from strategic planning to its implementation is investigated in two Northern European cities: Copenhagen and Malmö. To collect in-depth data, qualitative methods were used: a document analysis and semi-structured interviews with planning officials were conducted. The findings of the study show that there is a high degree of awareness of the different EbA measures, their potential role to address climate change effects and their co-benefits in climate adaptation plans. However, the practical implementation of the plans was executed only at a project-based scale to address some climate change impacts rather than holistically and on a regional level. The main EbA measure that was used was the expansion and transformation of public green space. The thesis concludes that a more comprehensive approach concerning the use of EbA is needed and further mainstreaming is highly required.
En viktig utmaning för hållbar stadsutveckling är att adressera effekterna av de stundande klimatförändringar. För att ta sig an denna fråga har användningen av ekosystembaserad anpassning (EbA), dvs. användningen av ekosystemtjänster för klimatanpassning, främjats av både forskare och utövare. I detta sammanhang behandlar studien två forskningsfrågor: hur EbA ingår i strategisk klimatanpassningsplanering och hur EbA implementeras i praktiken. Studien innehåller en fallstudie- design, där processen från strategisk planering till dess genomförande undersöks i två nordeuropeiska städer: Köpenhamn och Malmö. För att samla in data användes två kvalitativa metoder: en dokumentanalys och semistrukturerade intervjuer med tjänstepersoner på kommuner. Resultaten från studien visar att det finns en hög grad av medvetenhet om de olika EbA åtgärderna, deras potentiella roll för att hantera klimatförändringseffekter och deras synergier i klimatanpassningsplaner. Det praktiska genomförandet av planerna utfördes endast i en projektbaserad skala för att ta med vissa klimatförändringseffekter snarare än på ett holistiskt vis och på en större regional nivå. Den viktigaste EbA åtgärden som användes var utbyggnaden eller omvandlingen av de offentliga grönytorna. Sammanfattningsvis har studien visat på att det finns behov av ett mer heltäckande tillvägagångssätt och ytterligare integrering beträffande användandet av EbA krävs.

This essay examines the European Union’s (EU) ability to play a leading role as a global actor on the world stage in international relations. Specifically, this essay studies the EU’s role of negotiator in the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.  This essay also analyzes explanations for this role. Research is based on case studies, with conclusions drawn using an inductive approach. Analyses are based on International Relations Theory, with conclusions derived from the two main approaches in IR-theory - Realism and Liberalism. It is noted that the EU wanted to play an important role in the negotiations, through leading by example and consistently working towards a common, universal treaty for all involved, which is consistent with the Liberalist approach. However, the conference ended with the American president negotiating alone with four other countries, leaving the remaining one hundred and eighty-eight countries to either accept or reject the agreement without changes. This supports the Realist approach in IR-theory.  Therefore, the essay’s overall conclusions demonstrate that both the Liberalist and Realist approaches were present during this conference. 

The Biden-Harris administration’s discussion of climate change is analyzed during the transformative time of the administration’s first hundred days in office. The theoretical framework of the Copenhagen School of Security Studies (CS) is used to develop the coding frame to perform a qualitative content analysis of empirical material consisting of speeches and other documents of the administration. Several securitization moves have been identified and climate change has been presented as a security issue and an existential threat by the Biden- Harris administration. A wide range of referent objects are identified, which is the people and things presented to be threatened by climate change. The whole world, ecosystems, the American people and future generations are a few of the identified referent objects. International and national solutions are presented, though the solutions are not interpreted as extreme measures as discussed by the CS. Therefore, this study supports the critique of a too narrow definition of securitization by the CS.

碩士
東吳大學
法律學系
100
The outcome of global warming causing climate change, has seriously affected the entire human society and ecosystem balance. Situated in highly vulnerable areas affected by the impact of climate change, in recent years Taiwan has been suffered by extreme weather patterns, which in turn has resulted in increased frequency of droughts and floods alternately. Particularly, not only our country has more than 99% of the energy dependent upon imports, but to face a potential crisis of the nuclear radiation, resulting in our country by the threat of climate change risk is more severe. Therefore, the impact upon climate change and disaster prevention as well adaptation strategies is imperative. This thesis has drawn recent global trend which should be climate change from the Copenhagen climate conference, the development direction, focus exploring the relationship between climate change and adaptation policies of international environmental law, its main legal principle, and further compiled the complete ”United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change” on the adaptation of the specification in order to understand the current international climate change, institutional rules and practice generally formed. At the same time, the resolutions and strategies of adaptation in the research and analysis, UNFCCC related international conferences or organizations, with reference to adaptation policies and measures and legislative experience in major international organizations and advanced countries, to establish the impact of climate change adaptation strategies of international development. Accordingly will further examine the viewpoints of the overall mechanism of climate change issues, especially on the development of adaptation policy formulation and legal norms, and to study the environmental administrative organizational structure in response to climate change. Finally, this thesis makes relevant recommendations for future reference to develop more hand-on implementation of the policy, and the development of the legal norms in line with international trend.

Diploma thesis "EU as an actor of world environmental policy with special focus on agreements concerning climate protection" tries to find answer to the question of the relevance and strength of European Union in the field of world climate protection. The analysis of three important world meetings (Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 1992, negotiations of COP5 in Kyoto, Japan in, 1997, and Copenhagen Summit in 2009) is the main tool in the search of the answer to the question, what makes EU relevant and strong actor in the world climate policy, whether its position is strong and what makes it an actor. Diploma thesis focuses not only on European powers in international arena, but also on its powers towards its member states. In this area, thesis focuses on EU powers towards its members, how the powers are used during the phase of enforcement and implementation of EU legislative and how successful the EU is in enforcing its will towards its member states in the field of climate protection. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate, to what extend EU can be considered to be an international actor in the field of climate protection policy and find out, if it has powers to influence other actors, negotiations and agreements and whether it can be considered a strong actor.

1 Název práce: Mezinárodní režim ochrany klimatu ve světle závazků vybraných smluvních stran Rámcové úmluvy OSN o změně klimatu Autor práce: PhDr. Ing. Přemysl Štěpánek Školitel: Doc. PhDr. Jan Karlas, M.A., Ph.D. Pracoviště: Univerzita Karlova, Fakulta sociálních věd, Institut politologických studií, Katedra mezinárodních vztahů. Rok obhajoby: 2018 Abstract To complement the current research on countries' action in relation to global public goods, this dissertation examines the strength of UNFCCC Parties' emission commitments and the influence of selected factors derived from rationalism and constructivism on the strength of these commitments in two different contexts, under the Copenhagen Accord (2009) and the Paris Agreement (2015). Using a multiple linear regression analysis on the sample of 27 and 54 cases in the first and the second period, respectively, and as well as through case studies on three important UNFCCC Parties with a strong commitment and variance in values of the independent variables (the European Union, the Russian Federation, South Africa), the conclusions are as follows. The regression analysis in both contexts showed, in line with the assumptions, the positive influence of two factors on the strength of commitments, namely the share of alternative and nuclear energy and economic...

This thesis addresses the topic of the effectiveness of negotiation in the climate change regime, which is examined in connection with leadership theory. The goal of this thesis is to find out, if selected actors behaved as leaders during climate change conferences and if their behavior contributed to the effectiveness of negotiation in the climate change regime. Effectiveness of negotiation is examined at three selected climate change conferences, more specifically at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference (2009), Cancún Climate Change Conference (2010) and Paris Climate Change Conference (2015). The leadership role is examined at above mentioned conferences with connection to the European Union, the USA and China. The research of leadership is based on the congruence method, which is based on examination of observable predictions established from theory. This thesis reached the conclusion, that the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference was not effective, on the contrary the Climate Change Conferences in Cancún and Paris were assessed as effective. In connection to fulfillment of conditions of leadership, the thesis reached the conclusion, that at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference none of the actors acted as a leader, at the Cancún Climate Change Conference the European Union acted as a...