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== History of approach to solving climate change ==
{{main|Climate governance|Politics of global warming}}
Historically climate change has been approached at a multinational level where a consensus decision is reached at the [[United Nations]] (UN), under the [[United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change]] (UNFCCC).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://unfccc.int/process/the-convention/history-of-the-convention|title=History of the Convention {{!}} UNFCCC|website=unfccc.int|access-date=2019-12-02}}</ref> This represents the dominant approach historically of engaging as many international governments as possible in taking action in on a worldwide public issue. While there is a precedent that this model can work, as seen in the Montreal Protocol, there has been a shift away from this after it failed in the Kyoto Protocol and more recently is in jeopardy{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}} for the Paris Agreement.
=== Free rider problem ===
Unanimous{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}} consensus decision making has presented problems where any small number of countries can block passage of a resolution on what all countries will do to address the issue. Because of this small number of countries that do not want a resolution to the problem, all other countries are faced with the choice to attempt to combat the collective problem unilaterally, or also defect and economically benefit from not allocating the necessary resources to change. This is essentially the [[Free-rider problem|free rider problem]] present in the [[tragedy of the commons]], where the world's climate is a public, non-rival, non-excludeable good. The free rider problem can be summarized as the issue of a party receiving benefits of a public good without contributing to the cost.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nordhaus|first=William|date=2015-04-04|title=Climate Clubs: Overcoming Free-riding in International Climate Policy|journal=American Economic Review|language=en|volume=105|issue=4|pages=1339–1370|doi=10.1257/aer.15000001|issn=0002-8282|url=https://www.aeaweb.org/aer/app/10504/presidential2015_app.pdf}}</ref> This often results in the good being overused or damaged by parties who are unable to be excluded from the using the good, resulting in a suboptimal good for everyone.
=== Montreal Protocol ===
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