Authors: Daniel Muth, Mathieu Blondeel and Philipp Pattberg (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Abstract: This paper examines how policymakers can navigate the increasingly fragmented and complex landscape of global climate governance. Climate change mitigation spans multiple economic sectors and involves a growing number of public, private, and transnational actors, resulting in a complex and fragmented institutional environment in which traditional multilateral organizations coexist with a wide range of alternative governance arrangements. In this context, EU policymakers face difficult choices regarding where to allocate limited financial, political, and administrative resources in order to advance strategic objectives while maintaining legitimacy and effectiveness.

To address this challenge, the paper applies the search cost framework to global climate governance institutions. Search costs are understood as the costs of identifying, evaluating, and selecting governance arrangements through which policy goals can be pursued. We operationalize search costs along three dimensions—formality, openness, and normativity—and apply the framework to eight key governance institutions and initiatives active in climate change mitigation.

The analysis reveals substantial variation in search costs across governance arrangements and highlights systematic trade-offs between effectiveness and legitimacy. Informal, closed, and technically oriented initiatives might deliver faster policy outcomes but often raise concerns regarding accountability and transparency, whereas formal and open institutions score higher on legitimacy but may be slower and less decisive. Based on these findings, the paper recommends that EU policymakers reduce search costs by formulating clear, measurable policy goals and strategically prioritizing governance venues aligned with these objectives. The framework thus provides a practical tool to support more coherent and effective EU engagement in global climate governance.

Keywords: global (climate) governance, search costs, institutional complexity, regime complexes, European Union

Citation Recommendation: Blondeel, Mathieu, Muth, Daniel and Pattberg, Philipp (2026). “Strategic Decision-Making in a Fragmented Landscape: The EU’s Search Costs in Global Climate Governance”. NAVIGATOR working paper, WP. 3, D. 2 (February), pp. 1-25. https://eunav.eu/