The Powerful Norm for Climate Change Action - How International Organizations Legitimate Themselves Amid Contestation

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. How do international climate and energy organizations survive and thrive despite powerful contestation? This analysis reveals how the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) maintain legitimacy when key players like the United States withdraw from global agreements. Using qualitative research including interviews and participant observation, this book unveils the 'norm for climate change action'—a powerful principle that transforms contestation into reinforcement of international climate governance. In doing so, it demonstrates how opposition doesn't destroy these organizations but paradoxically strengthens their role in global climate action.