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The report examines various international legal frameworks and principles that could be incorporated into a future treaty to phase out fossil fuels. It discusses structural options for including these principles—either in a dedicated provision, the preamble, or substantive articles—and evaluates 16 specific legal principles, such as 'common but differentiated responsibilities' and 'intergenerational equity', detailing their legal status and potential application to fossil fuel production and a just transition.

The report traces the history of international climate policy, highlighting the shift from the 'top-down' prescriptive approach of the Kyoto Protocol to the 'bottom-up' voluntary system of the Paris Agreement. It examines the central role of the 'common but differentiated responsibilities' (CBDR) principle and the challenges of ensuring the participation of major emitters while maintaining equity for developing nations. The text concludes that while the regime has grown in complexity and universality, current collective emission reduction promises remain insufficient to limit global warming to 1.5°C or 2°C.

The document analyzes the shift toward concrete Climate-related Trade Measures (CTMs), such as carbon border adjustment mechanisms and deforestation regulations, and how these are being addressed within the WTO and UNFCCC. It highlights key concerns regarding transparency, interoperability, and the impact on developing nations, while positioning the WTO's MC14 as a critical moment for consolidating these discussions.

The document serves as a practical handbook for climate negotiators, particularly those from the Global South who may lack institutional support. It covers the scientific basis of climate change, the evolution of the international regime from the 1992 UNFCCC to the Paris Agreement, and the procedural rules of the COP. A significant portion of the guide is dedicated to negotiation theory, offering strategies for 'disadvantaged' negotiators to overcome resource gaps and power imbalances through coalition building, integrative negotiation techniques, and precise drafting skills.

The document serves as a survival guide for climate change negotiators, detailing the scientific basis of the climate crisis, the evolution of the international regime from the 1992 UNFCCC to the Paris Agreement, and the formal and informal structures of the UN process. It specifically addresses the structural disadvantages faced by negotiators from developing countries, such as 'hollow mandates' and limited coalition-forming power, and offers practical strategies for drafting, bargaining, and coping with the pressures of high-stakes diplomacy.

The document details the collaboration between IDSA and PRIO, focusing on India's perspectives on food security, nuclear governance, and climate change. It highlights India's pursuit of nuclear energy capacity, its adherence to the CBDR-RC principle in climate negotiations, and the internal challenges of food insecurity and insurgencies.

The report argues that the EU's proposed 20% to 30% emissions reductions by 2020 are inadequate to maintain a 2ºC warming limit and fail to address the global inequality of the climate crisis. Using the Greenhouse Development Rights (GDRs) framework—which calculates obligations based on a 'Responsibility and Capacity Index' relative to a development threshold—the authors find that the EU's fair share of the global mitigation requirement is approximately 23%, amounting to roughly 850 MtC by 2020. This obligation is described as a 'two-fold obligation' requiring both deep domestic reductions and significant international investment in the South. The authors contend that the EU must provide courageous leadership by unilaterally committing to its proper share of the global burden to break the North-South negotiating impasse ahead of the Copenhagen summit.

The paper examines the 'energy-poverty-climate' nexus, arguing that global climate policy must support 'development without carbon' to be equitable and viable. It contends that current climate-economics models often assume pessimistic, low-growth scenarios for the poorest countries, which artificially increases the 'emissions space' available for rich nations and reduces the urgency for their mitigation. The author advocates for a framework of 'common but differentiated responsibilities,' where high-income countries bear the financial burden of decarbonizing development in low-income regions to avoid a zero-sum conflict between poverty eradication and the 2°C temperature goal.

The paper examines the use of trade measures in U.S. and EU climate policies, identifying objectives such as preventing carbon leakage and incentivizing global action. It argues that while protecting domestic industry is not a legitimate use of such measures under WTO and UNFCCC principles, properly designed measures to prevent emissions leakage may be permissible. The author highlights the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACESA) as a proposal that could allow the U.S. to unilaterally determine the equity of other countries' emissions commitments, potentially conflicting with the UNFCCC principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. Given the high risk of WTO disputes, the paper recommends that the UNFCCC COP establish principles and procedures to limit the use of trade measures.

The ACT 2015 Consortium proposes a legal framework for the 2015 Paris Agreement that integrates mitigation, adaptation, and support through five-year cycles of continuous improvement. Key recommendations include phasing out greenhouse gas emissions to net zero in the second half of the century, establishing a long-term adaptation goal, and ensuring equity for least developed countries and small island developing States through flexible commitments and targeted financial support.

The document argues that the stalemate in international climate negotiations stems from the assumption that developing country commitments must mirror the absolute emission limits of industrialized nations. It proposes using greenhouse gas intensity indicators—measuring emissions per unit of economic output—to decouple economic growth from emissions growth, thereby respecting the differentiated circumstances of developing nations while ensuring their participation in climate solutions.

The analysis argues that equity is essential for achieving consensus in international agreements and should be addressed through both the differentiation of commitments and the design of supporting institutions. Key recommendations include using objective criteria for negotiating differentiated obligations, allowing for the timing of obligations to vary based on capacity, and prioritizing facilitative compliance over sanctions for developing countries. The paper emphasizes that equity requires not only financial support but also technology access and country ownership of implementation strategies.

The document addresses the lack of transparency and clarity in climate mitigation pledges from both Annex I and non-Annex I Parties under the Cancun Agreements. It argues that while Annex I Parties can resolve these issues through common accounting rules, non-Annex I Parties require a specific clarification process for their diverse nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) to enable progress tracking and the assessment of global emissions reductions.