Introduction

International oversight of the implementation and development of treaty rules takes places through a set of institutions established by the climate change regime. The Conference of the Parties, the supreme body of the Convention, sits at the apex. It is supported by two subsidiary bodies (SBs): the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI). Influenced by concerns of sovereignty and institutional economy, Parties decided that the COP would serve as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol – the COP/MOP – while the two subsidiary bodies would also serve the Protocol. A striking feature of the climate change regime since the adoption of the Marrakesh Accords has been the development of an increasingly dense institutional network, with the designation of several specialised bodies with limited membership mandated to work on specific issues under both the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol. This chapter explains the institutions of the climate change regime (illustrated in figures 13.1 (Convention) and 13.2 (Kyoto Protocol)), including their composition, mandates, modus operandi, and likely operation under the Kyoto Protocol. In some cases, notably the specialised bodies, readers are referred to a more detailed discussion in other chapters of this book. It should be noted that the Secretariat, another body established by the Convention, plays a vitally important role in ensuring the smooth functioning of the regime's institutional machinery as discussed in this chapter 15.