Jakob Skovgaard

This paper analyses global climate politics from the 2007 Bali Roadmap over the 2009 breakdown at COP15 to the following COP meetings with a focus on central issues and tendencies. The analysis is structured by applying the concepts of content and process as empirical and heuristic tools. This is used as the point of departure to analyse the road to Paris, where COP21 is held in 2015 with the stated goal of reaching a global agreement corresponding to the previous goal of COP15, only now, covering the period from 2020 onwards. Data consists of own observations through participation in COPs and other forums, own interviews, literature reviews, and other public material. The paper concludes that the recent COPs can be characterised by three overlapping discussions: how parties interpret and seek to implement the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, the principle of equity, as well as the question of real effects of actions to mitigate climate change.