THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL REGIMES

Abstract

Regimes are institutions which provide a venue of cooperation for states to address issue-specific concerns. Intergovernmental organizations (IGOS) are more tangible entities designed to facilitate the implementation of a regime’s objectives. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for example, is an IGO tasked to coordinate states in finding solutions related to the specific issue of climate change mitigation. As a global environmental issue, climate change is strongly associated with greenhouse gases (GHG) emanating from fossil fuel extraction/refining, transportation sector, electricity and other energy-intensive industries. The UNFCCC is mandated to find ways to mitigate the impact of this impending global threat through the cooperation of member-states in curbing their own respective GHG emissions. However, energy security is imperative in a country’s economic growth and fossil fuels have historically played a role in any state’s industrialization. The Philippines for example, acknowledges their importance as it undergoes its own economic development. It thereby faces a dilemma on how to maintain its economic trajectory while committing to reduce its GHG emissions when it ratified the 2015 Paris Agreement, a treaty conceived during the UNFCCC’s 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21). Using the country’s energy security policy as a case study, this thesis will explore to what extent has climate change mitigation regimes such as the UNFCCC, have either constrained or encouraged Philippine policymakers in the design and diffusion of the country’s energy security policy. Alongside the country’s direct compliance to ratify the Paris Agreement, this thesis will also look into the possible role of informal governance (IG) (i.e. unwritten rules, shared expectations and norms) within the UNFCCC’s Paris Talks as a practical option to heed to the dictates of climate change mitigation regimes. This framework structure present in the Paris Talks (i.e. non-binding, lack of penalties for failing to comply), enables the Philippines to utilize IG elements which ensures it of: 1) Flexibility in its energy security policy; 2) Lower Transaction Costs to commit to the treaty; and 3) Lower Sovereignty Costs attributed to the nonbinding nature of the treaty.