We must rewrite the rule of the climate talks

The authors argue that the UN climate process is outdated and allows powerful countries and polluting industries to block ambition. They propose four key reforms: implementing majority voting when consensus fails, enforcing strict conflict-of-interest rules to exclude fossil fuel lobbyists, establishing meaningful accountability and compliance mechanisms for state commitments, and guaranteeing human rights and transparency in negotiations.

• The current UN climate process is characterized by a lack of compliance and accountability, evidenced by the fact that approximately half of the countries expected to submit new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to limit warming to 1.5°C have not yet done so.
• The authors propose that the UN climate talks adopt majority decision-making to prevent a small number of holdout countries from blocking global ambition when consensus cannot be reached.
• To prevent the warping of climate priorities, the document calls for robust conflict-of-interest rules to limit the influence of fossil fuel and polluting industry lobbyists, suggesting a model similar to the World Health Organization's exclusion of Big Tobacco.
• The document asserts that states must be held accountable for their COP commitments through criteria, monitoring, and compliance, noting that states may otherwise face liability in courts following an International Court of Justice affirmation of state responsibility for climate obligations.
• Reform must include guarantees for human rights protections, the preservation of civic space at COPs, and the creation of participatory and transparent negotiations.

APA

Brown, R., & Vandamme, L. (2025). We must rewrite the rule of the climate talks. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/we-must-rewrite-the-rule-of-the-climate-talks/

Chicago

Brown, Rebecca, and Lien Vandamme. We must rewrite the rule of the climate talks. Center for International Environmental Law, 2025. https://www.ciel.org/we-must-rewrite-the-rule-of-the-climate-talks/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Brown |first1=Rebecca |last2=Vandamme |first2=Lien |title=We must rewrite the rule of the climate talks |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=11 November 2025 |url=https://www.ciel.org/we-must-rewrite-the-rule-of-the-climate-talks/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{brown2025must, author = {Brown, Rebecca and Vandamme, Lien}, title = {{We must rewrite the rule of the climate talks}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2025}, month = nov, url = {https://www.ciel.org/we-must-rewrite-the-rule-of-the-climate-talks/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }