The Decline of Multilateral Cooperation: On the Rising of Fragmentation Mode for Governing Global Warming

This article argues that the governance of global warming based on the multilateralism is almost going to be defunct. The flaws of its institutional design as well as the misunderstanding of warming governance turn those larger emitting countries into the advantage on the one hand, and the exception of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide on the other. However, some of such powerful emitters have cleverly organized the „fragmentation mode‟, which is more effective than traditional multilateralism. In light of three bilateral agreements signed by larger emitters, this article points out that it is necessary to discard current multilateral mode; by contrast, after the failure of the United Nations‟ COP25 in 2019, it is better for international society to support a more flexible and feasible approach, in which those larger emitters are available and willing to deal with warming problems through the „fragmentation mode‟ rather than the multilateral cooperation as usual.