The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in International Climate Policy; [Группа наименее развитых стран (НРС) в международной климатической политике]

Abstract

Global climate change is one of the main challenges of our time. Rising temperatures threaten the stability of the ecological, socio-economic, and political systems around the globe. Countries in the Global South have the greatest material losses from climate change without having a significant impact on it. The high vulnerability of the group of least developed countries (LDCs) to climate change, coupled with social and economic challenges poverty, and lack of means for adaptation, determine its special rank and status in international climate policy. In it, the LDCs act as a single actor. Over the course of more than 30 years of climate policy, LDCs have initiated the adoption of a number of important documents and the creation of fundamental structures for international climate policy. At the same time, noticeable transformations have taken place to adapt and decarbonize the national structures of LDCs. The purpose of this article is to show the role of the LDC group in the formation of the United Nations (UN) climate agenda, institutional structures, and international mechanisms, to highlight their efforts to restore global climate justice, and to characterize modern national climate policy according to the legal documents adopted by the LDCs. The methodological basis is formed by historical, comparative approaches. The main objective of the article is to study the trajectories of the climate policy of the LDC group, highlight the stages of its evolution, demonstrate centre-peripheral relations to restore climate justice, and examine the internal policies of the LDCs. Policy initiatives of the LDCs played a direct role in the formation of climate finance funds, the group of experts on the least developed countries (LEG), and national programmes and plans for the adaptation of states to climate change. The article concludes that there are two stages in the development of climate policy in LDCs; it is assumed that the use of international mechanisms for adaptation and decarbonization could become a tool for the economic and technological modernization of LDCs and their achievement of the sustainable development goals of 2030. The main obstacles to this are the insufficient financing of available funds from countries of the Global North, high interest rates on loans, and the indebtedness of LDCs. © (2024), (International Organisations Research Journal). All rights reserved.