For 30 years, a political process, aiming at finding a response to the problem of global warming caused by the greenhouse effect, has developed in the international arena. Non-state actors such as scientific networks, environmental organisations, and industry groups, have been trying to influence the course of global climate politics. Despite the permanent presence of non-state actors, states seem to remain the main actors of international politics. Their positions, and the characteristics of the treaty they shaped – mainly the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol – give an insight into the persistence of the state-centred paradigm. –Summary AFRI-2003