Environment
Complex relationship between resource consumption and globalization → but current consumption rate not sustainable
Vast disparities between rich and poor in terms of consumption and ecological impact

Response: attempt at global environmental governance
Traditional Concerns
Conservation
Pollution
Expanded in scope from 1960s on as problems became transnational:
Three UN conferences (1972, 1992, 2002)
Reflected domestic and global issue-cycles and role of increasing scientific knowledge
Regulating the ‘global commons’
Transboundary trade and pollution control regimes
Norm development: precautionary principle
Sustainable development and capacity-building
Framework convention
Must tie environmental issues to political concerns
Development of global environmental governance
Climate Change
An enormous challenge that can only be addressed globally
UN Convention: Common but Differentiated Responsibilities
Kyoto: a limited start (until 2012)
Copenhagen: a failure?
Environment and IR Theory
Neo-liberals: trade/environment balance
Realists: state power politics
Constructivists: epistemic communities, NGO impact
Securitization of environmental issues?