The research aims at identifying which incentives (whether financial or otherwise) promote cooperative behavior in climate change negotiations. By means of an extensive survey targeted at climate diplomats, the study explores causes of slow progress in UN negotiations and key concepts/variables that influence the negotiation processes. Moreover, groups of individuals (experts or students) engage in settings that reproduce those faced by negotiators (laboratory experiments) to identify the incentives for cooperation. Policy recommendations for more effective stakeholders’ participation are being put forward.

In a second stage, the project focuses on smaller groups of individuals engaging in controlled laboratory experiments aimed at isolating the incentives for cooperation in setting that approximate those faced by the negotiators. These economic experiments are calibrated on the information gathered with the surveys.