Climate Change and Knowledge Communities

Abstract

Climate change is a global problem whose particular characteristics mean that public-sector policy is fundamental in tackling it: a public-sector policy implemented world-wide that requires the co-operation of a large number of very different stakeholders. Innovative instruments are needed that can overcome the difficulties inherent in a global challenge of this magnitude. This paper looks at climate change as an excellent case in point of how knowledge communities can effectively help to spread learning processes and paradigm shifts. A central role in the globalisation of knowledge of this problem over the past few decades has been played by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has acted as a knowledge community and a catalyst for the globalisation of learning. It is not the only community that has contributed to providing both the general public and public-sector policy-makers all over the world with a better understanding of the problem of climate change and the options available for tackling it, but it is without doubt one of the most significant.