Environmental Multilateralism and its Discontents

Multilateralism has been increasingly accepted as the modus operandi in world politics, and in global environmental politics in particular. International environmental law in the form of multilateral environmental agreements has over the last four decades emerged as the preferred avenue to address inter-state environmental issues that either cross state boundaries, materialize beyond national jurisdictions or are of genuinely global nature such as climate change.

This book analyses the possibilities as well as the limitations of environmental treaty making between states. The book considers the structures and processes that lead to the successful adoption of the Paris Agreement – and contrasting them with other attempts that failed in bringing states together under a legally-binding solution. Christina Voigt explores the whole "life-cycle" of multilateral environmental agreements, from diplomatic exchanges, to treaty negotiations, to analyses of the treaty text, non-compliance mechanisms and finally to recourse to courts. It also emphasises the strong impact of the sovereign powers of emerging economies such as China and Brazil on the shaping of international environmental regimes.