Transparency in multilateral climate politics: furthering or distracting from accountability?

The authors analyze the link between transparency and accountability in the context of the 2015 Paris Agreement's 'pledge-and-review' approach. They argue that the relationship is not straightforward and find that climate transparency practices often reflect existing conflicts over responsibility and burden sharing for climate action, rather than necessarily reducing them. Consequently, the authors suggest that the perceived transformative potential of transparency requires reconsideration.

• The relationship between transparency and accountability in multilateral climate politics is more complex than commonly assumed, and the practices of transparency often mirror broader conflicts regarding responsibility and burden sharing for ambitious climate action instead of resolving them.
• The 2015 Paris Agreement utilizes an 'enhanced transparency framework' as a central pillar of its 'pledge-and-review' approach to collective climate action, based on the assumption that visibility of national actions is essential for building trust and ensuring accountability.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2017). Transparency in multilateral climate politics: furthering or distracting from accountability? https://www.sei.org/publications/transparency-in-multilateral-climate-politics-furthering-or-distracting-from-accountability/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Transparency in multilateral climate politics: furthering or distracting from accountability? 2017. https://www.sei.org/publications/transparency-in-multilateral-climate-politics-furthering-or-distracting-from-accountability/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Transparency in multilateral climate politics: furthering or distracting from accountability? |date=26 July 2017 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/transparency-in-multilateral-climate-politics-furthering-or-distracting-from-accountability/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2017transparency, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Transparency in multilateral climate politics: furthering or distracting from accountability?}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2017}, month = jul, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/transparency-in-multilateral-climate-politics-furthering-or-distracting-from-accountability/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }