The Climate Establishment and the Structural Constraints of the Paris Partnerships

Abstract

The Paris Agreement created an institutionalized role for non-state actors through voluntary cooperation. Many international NGOs (INGOs) are particularly active in these “Paris partnerships,” often working with multinational corporations to reduce emissions. Though there is ample work on both the effectiveness of the Paris partnerships and on the role of INGOs in the global climate regime, much of this work focuses “outward” – on how INGOs contribute to climate mitigation and adaptation, or influence norms, discourse and policy. Yet, there is considerably less work that focuses “inward” – asking why climate INGOs act the way they do. To better understand the incentives and opportunities that drive INGO behavior, I examine their relationships with large corporations. Specifically, this paper uses a network analysis to map the relationships between Fortune100 firms and a key subset of well-resourced INGOs, whom I refer to as “the climate establishment,” through the Paris partnerships. The climate establishment can be understood as insider INGOs who work within the multilateral process and with large corporations to influence rulemaking, soft law and firm behavior. I present new social network data to provide insights into the structural incentives and constraints that these partnerships create for INGOs. These findings suggest that in addition to assessing partnership effectiveness, scholars should also consider how relationships with multinational corporations shape the climate establishment’s organizational behavior.