Brics nations have the means and motivation to create a climate agency that could act and research instead of just arguing
The stalemate in the latest round of climate negotiations, held in Doha, Qatar, last month, makes it clear that a fresh approach is needed if the world is to avert climate catastrophe. One part of the solution should be a new global climate agency, founded, financed and led by a coalition of the big emerging market countries.
Such an agency would not require prior agreement on two contentious issues that have stymied the international talks: binding emissions reductions, and financial support to help poor countries adapt and invest in clean growth. Instead, the new entity would focus on fostering co-operation on a wide range of knowledge-based issues that can provide a basis for progress even without such an agreement, and that will be necessary to support any agreement that eventually emerges.
What would the new agency do? Despite the plethora of international organisations addressing climate change, there is a core set of knowledge-based services best supplied at the global level that are crucial and yet are not being adequately supplied.
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