A peculiar treaty management organization operates under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement that does not fit established categories of international law and political science. Unlike traditional international organizations (IOs), it lacks the formal status of an IO, comprises only a limited secretariat with predominantly servicing functions, and is not even denominated as an organization. We argue that it has nevertheless become an international actor, mainly due to activities of its Conference of the Parties and several specialized organizational schemes. Theoretically, we develop an analytical framework that shows how even heavily member-dominated IOs can become international actors and what this means for global environmental governance. IOs gain the capability to influence international politics by their own action if authorized to make decisions with external effects. They gain autonomy if organizational rules and procedures shape organizational decision-making and create specific organizational rationales. Empirically, we demonstrate that the organizational component of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement has acquired both considerable action capability and autonomy. It is authorized to flesh out the skeletal provisions of the constituent treaties through far-reaching COP decisions and to decide continuously in several specialized organizational schemes, especially on climate funding, cooperation mechanisms, and compliance management. Organizational decisions are heavily influenced by autonomy-creating organizational factors, such as path dependence, fundamental organizational norms and dense sets of decision criteria. We conclude that this organization, and the organizational components of other multilateral environmental agreements, point at important organizational effects, which merit further attention.

一个特殊的条约管理组织根据《联合国气候变化框架公约》和《巴黎协定》运作，不符合国际法和政治学的既定类别。与传统国际组织（IO）不同，它不具备国际组织的正式地位，仅由一个以服务职能为主的有限秘书处组成，甚至不被称为组织。我们认为，它仍然成为一个国际行为体，这主要是由于其缔约方大会的活动和一些专门的组织计划。理论上，我们开发了一个分析框架，展示了即使是成员主导的国际组织也可以如何成为国际参与者，以及这对全球环境治理意味着什么。如果被授权做出具有外部影响的决策，国际组织就有能力通过自己的行动影响国际政治。如果组织规则和程序塑造组织决策并创造具体的组织原理，他们就获得自主权。经验上，我们证明《联合国气候变化框架公约》和《巴黎协定》的组织部分已经获得了相当大的行动能力和自主权。它被授权通过影响深远的缔约方大会决策来充实组成条约的骨架条款，并在几个专门的组织计划中持续做出决定，特别是在气候资金、合作机制和合规管理方面。组织决策很大程度上受到创造自主权的组织因素的影响，例如路径依赖、基本组织规范和密集的决策标准。我们的结论是，该组织以及其他多边环境协定的组织组成部分具有重要的组织效应，值得进一步关注。