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Our article aims to better understand the role of the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the increasingly complex global climate governance structure. We employ an innovative approach to addressing this issue by systematically examining the climate secretariat’s relations with the main groups of actors involved in this policy domain, in particular with nonparty actors. In a first step, we use social network analysis (SNA) to examine the secretariat’s relations with nonparty and state stakeholders and to identify its position in the UNFCCC policy network. An understanding of where the climate secretariat stands in the global climate governance network and which actors it interacts with most allows us to draw preliminary conclusions about the ways in which it connects with other stakeholders to influence global climate policy outputs. In a second step, we conduct thirty-three semistructured interviews to corroborate the results of the SNA. Our findings lend support to the argument that the climate secretariat may gradually be moving from a rather neutral and instrumental stance to playing a proactive and influential role in international climate governance. It aims to increase its political influence by establishing strategic links to actors other than the formal negotiation parties.

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The multi-level and multi-actor character of the international climate governance regime, as well as the imminent need for action to combat climate change, stimulates the introduction of new and innovative cross-sectoral policy proposals by policy entrepreneurs. To date, academic literature has extensively studied and discussed the importance of policy entrepreneurs for agenda-setting. The role of policy entrepreneurs in providing continuous support for a new climate policy resulting in its implementation, has on the other hand, so far received only little attention. Taking the Norwegian Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation commitment as an exemplary case, this paper explores the potential of entrepreneurial engagement throughout a country’s climate policy-making process. It aims to demonstrate the importance of policy entrepreneurs beyond agenda-setting, namely for the policy formulation phase in which responsibilities for the implementation are designated to governmental bodies. We refer to this step as institutional anchoring. Following an explorative approach, this paper shows that different types of actors – non-governmental organisations and governmental actors – act as policy entrepreneurs. It demonstrates the roles and importance of policy entrepreneurs for not only gaining, but also maintaining attention on a new policy by means of coalition building and framing.

International public administrations (IPA s) play a significant role for the success of multilateral negotiations. As the bureaucratic bodies of international organizations, they are deeply involved in international negotiations, but receive little credit for their outcomes. By studying the administrative styles of the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), this article arrives at an understanding of how this IPA aims at contributing to the outcome of multilateral climate change negotiations. Administrative styles can be conceived of, ideal typically, as being entrepreneurial or servant-like. The article observes that, despite a prohibitively strict mandate as a technocratic facilitator, the UNFCCC Secretariat adopts an entrepreneurial style at the policy initiation stage and a cautiously entrepreneurial style during the policy formulation phase. It has acquired a distinctive actor quality in the climate regime, motivated by a strong commitment to furthering meaningful cooperation and driving the UNFCCC process toward ambitious climate policies.