A comprehensive approach to climate change: political and scientific considerations

The concept of comprehensiveness embedded in the climate convention is discussed with attention to political and scientific considerations that need to be taken into account for this approach to serve as a tool for enhancing the effectiveness of a climate regime. The manners in which the approach may serve as an instrument for facilitating negotiation and implementation of a climate regime are discussed, and an operational definition is suggested. A key question with regard to the employment of a comprehensive approach in climate politics concerns how well methodologies for comparing gases perform. This question is discussed with regard to Global Warming Potentials (GWPs). When the most important greenhouse gases are concerned, we suggest that in the absence of better alternatives, the use of GWPs may serve as a preliminary tool for policy making until better methods are developed. It is emphasized that the choice of time horizon has significant ecological and political implications that should be taken into account.