The international research project Compon is designed to address the causes of variation in societal and governmental responses to the reduction of greenhouse gas (especially carbon dioxide) levels in the global atmosphere. These variations have been a principle cause of the failure of international negotiations to level off or reduce those concentrations. Accordingly, their deeper understanding should contribute to establishment of more widely acceptable conditions of agreement.

At the same time, the cross-case variations reveal that some cases (nations or regions) have responded effectively while others have not. Hence, analysis of the causes of these variations can also reveal the basic or structural conditions impinging on societies that promote or hinder effective responses. The Compon project follows the best design principles of cross-national comparative social scientific research.