The position of the Low Carbon Growth Partnership (LCGP): at the end of Japan’s navigation between the Kyoto Protocol and the APP

A new climate change institutional package, the East Asia Low Carbon Growth Partnership (LCGP), has been recently developed. The LCGP has significant implications because it was initiated by Japan, which has navigated between the Kyoto Protocol (KP) and the Asia–Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP) but ended the navigation by announcing its intention not to participate in the second commitment period of the KP. This paper investigates the position of the LCGP on the spectrum drawn by the KP and the APP using the theoretical ground of normative contestation. Results show that the normative stance of the LCGP is skewed toward the APP; however, the LCGP differentiates itself from the APP by its own functional properties and through its institutional fit with another regional institution, the East Asia Summit. The LCGP puts another complexion on global climate change governance.