A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO CLIMATE-CHANGE - POLITICAL AND SCIENTIFICCONSIDERATIONS

The concept of comprehensiveness embedded in the climate convention is discussed with attention to political and scientific considerations t hat 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 w hich the approach may serve as an instrument for facilitating negotiat ion and implementation of a climate regime are discussed, and an opera tional definition is suggested. A key question with regard to the empl oyment of a comprehensive approach in climate politics concerns how we ll methodologies for comparing gases perform. This question is discuss ed with regard to Global Warming Potentials (GWPs). When the most impo rtant greenhouse gases are concerned, we suggest that in the absence o f better alternatives, the use of GWPs may serve as a preliminary tool for policy making until better methods are developed. It is emphasize d that the choice of time horizon has significant ecological and polit ical implications that should be taken into account.