The respectable politics of climate change: the epistemic communities and NGOs

Climate change is unusual compared with most environmental issues in the ex tent to which it has become accepted among orthodox policy institutions and public-and private-sector organizations. The authors explore the condition s that have led to the establishment of an epistemic community that brings together a broad array of actors, including the various NGOs, and the opera tional dimensions that define the participation of NGOs within the communit y. An epistemic community does not imply conformity of opinion or approach but allows for differentiation in terms of how its members construct the pr oblem, and their objectives, core beliefs and favoured responses to climate change. Three broad styles of engagement through which NGOs contribute to this debate are identified: developing creative policy solutions, knowledge construction, and lobbying or campaigning. It should be noted that the aut hors refer primarily to development or environmental NGOs (ENGOs), though t hey do discuss business NGOs at a few points.