Erosion of climate multilateralism: from a universal regime to a localized regulatory logic

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to conceptualize the erosion of the universal climate regulatory regime as a process of structural replacement of the universal regulatory logic by a localized one and to theoretically substantiate the concept of taxonomic multiplicity as a structural phenomenon of contemporary climate policy. The article argues that the transformation of the global climate regime during the decade following the adoption of the Paris Agreement cannot be adequately explained through categories of institutional weakness or insufficient political will. Instead, it should be interpreted as a systemic replacement of the universal regulatory logic by a localized one, within which climate policy functions according to the rationality of economic competition and redistribution of gains rather than collective oordination. The scientific novelty lies in developing a theoretical framework that interprets the proliferation of sustainability taxonomies and the deliberate ambiguity of key terminological categories as structural features of the new regulatory environment rather than as technical problems of harmonization. On this basis, the article advances the concept of taxonomic multiplicity and formulates the central paradox of the contemporary climate regulatory order as a persistent gap between the declarative level of multilateral commitments and the operational level of their implementation.