A New Role for UNFCCC

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) should expand its global role in combating climate change. This new role should primarily focus on acting as a matchmaker among regions, governments, nongovernmental organizations, businesses and the public. In particular, UNFCCC should foster partnerships in information dissemination and capacity building, creating a sustainable path for clean energy in developing countries and clean energy technology innovation. This report will address each of these proposed partnerships and illustrate them with eight specific case studies. While the case studies were undertaken largely on a bilateral basis, duplicating these cases studies worldwide requires a mediating, coordination body like the UNFCCC secretariat to facilitate the matchmaking process. To ensure that the proposed part- nerships do indeed occur and result in concrete results, the report concludes with proposals to enable accountability.