The Influence of Business and Industry NGOs in the Negotiation of the Kyoto Mechanisms: the Case of Carbon Capture and Storage in the CDM

This article examines the role of business and industry NGOs (BINGOs) within the international climate negotiations. It develops a typology of BINGOs operating in the regime, and a framework for assessing the influence of these organizations. The framework is applied to a case study of the negotiation of carbon capture and storage technologies as a Kyoto Protocol mitigation option. In contrast to previous research, the article illustrates the existence of formal and informal networks among BINGOs, a variety of national delegations and international institutions, and demonstrates how these networks are tactically invoked in the effort to influence specific negotiation processes and outcomes. It is argued that BINGO activities influenced negotiations on regulatory design, and that a plausible explanation of business influence in this context lies in the notion of corporate technological power.