Between 2002 and 2005, IISD worked within an international consortium to explore options for governing climate change after 2012. Composed of the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (Japan), Fridtjof Nansen Institute (Norway), Hamburg Institute of International Economics (Germany), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (China), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories (USA), and IISD, the members of this consortium shared diverging ideas regarding the future direction of the global climate regime.

Outcomes of the consortium discussions were first captured in the briefing paper "Where to Next? Future steps of the global climate regime", released in December 2004. The paper identifies a range of alternative scenarios or pathways towards the goal of addressing climate change over the long term while also highlighting areas of common ground among the researchers involved.

The collaborative's second and final report, "Governing Climate: The Struggle for a Global Framework Beyond Kyoto" builds upon the lessons learned through the scenario work. It explores three key building blocks for the future climate regime: how to broaden the current cap-and-trade regime; how to most effectively use technology over the near future, and; how to increase financial flows to developing countries.

Funding for IISD's participation in this project was provided by Foreign Affairs Canada.