Climate Cooperation Disparities: An Analysis of the Global South’s Limited Participation in Intergovernmental Cooperation on Climate Change Mitigation

This World Resources Institute working paper analyzes ninety-three intergovernmental climate change mitigation initiatives, finding that while overall participation seems broad, representation from the Global South is critically low in key sectors. The landscape is dominated by developed countries and the top ten emitters per sector, which limits the Global South's access to capacity-building and information sharing.

• An analysis of ninety-three intergovernmental initiatives indicates that developed countries and the top ten emitters in each sector dominate the landscape of climate change mitigation cooperation.
• Representation for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) is critically low across most sectors, with the exception of agriculture and forests.
• The industry sector has the lowest level of representation, with 130 governments not participating in any initiative and 73% of these initiatives excluding LDCs.
• Agriculture is the most inclusive sector, with all but 27 countries participating in at least one initiative.
• Other sector-specific participation gaps include transport, where 89 governments are not engaged and SIDS, LDCs, and EECA are underrepresented, and forests, where 79% of initiatives lack representation from EECA and MENA.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Climate Cooperation Disparities: An Analysis of the Global South’s Limited Participation in Intergovernmental Cooperation on Climate Change Mitigation. https://www.wri.org/research/climate-cooperation-disparities-analysis-global-south-climate-change-mitigation

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Climate Cooperation Disparities: An Analysis of the Global South’s Limited Participation in Intergovernmental Cooperation on Climate Change Mitigation. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/climate-cooperation-disparities-analysis-global-south-climate-change-mitigation.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Climate Cooperation Disparities: An Analysis of the Global South’s Limited Participation in Intergovernmental Cooperation on Climate Change Mitigation |url=https://www.wri.org/research/climate-cooperation-disparities-analysis-global-south-climate-change-mitigation |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendclimate, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Climate Cooperation Disparities: An Analysis of the Global South’s Limited Participation in Intergovernmental Cooperation on Climate Change Mitigation}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/climate-cooperation-disparities-analysis-global-south-climate-change-mitigation}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }