scholarly journals The Rights of Future Generations within the Post-Paris Climate Regime

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Adequate Response ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
State Obligations ◽  
State Responses

AbstractIn recognition of the intrinsic links between climate change and human rights, many have argued that human rights should play a leading role in guiding state responses to climate change. A group whose human rights will inevitably be affected by climate action (or inaction) today are the members of future generations. Yet, despite their particular vulnerability, future generations so far have gone largely unnoticed in human rights analyses. An adequate response to climate change requires that we recognize and address the human rights consequences for future generations, and consider the legal, practical and theoretical questions involved. This article attempts to answer these questions with a particular focus on the Paris Agreement. It argues that the recognition of state obligations towards future generations is compatible with human rights theory, and that these obligations must be balanced against the duties owed to current generations. The article concludes with a number of suggestions for how this balance could be pursued.

Filling in for Governments? The Role of the Private Actors in the International Climate Regime

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-28
Author(s):  
Charlotte Streck
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
State Actor ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Private Actors

The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change abandons the Kyoto Protocol’s paradigm of binding emissions targets and relies instead on countries’ voluntary contributions. However, the Paris Agreement encourages not only governments but also sub-national governments, corporations and civil society to contribute to reaching ambitious climate goals. In a transition from the regulated architecture of the Kyoto Protocol to the open system of the Paris Agreement, the Agreement seeks to integrate non-state actors into the treaty-based climate regime. In 2014 the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Peru and France created the Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action (and launched the Global Climate Action portal). In December 2019, this portal recorded more than twenty thousand climate-commitments of private and public non-state entities, making the non-state venues of international climate meetings decisively more exciting than the formal negotiation space. This level engagement and governments’ response to it raises a flurry of questions in relation to the evolving nature of the climate regime and climate change governance, including the role of private actors as standard setters and the lack of accountability mechanisms for non-state actions. This paper takes these developments as occasion to discuss the changing role of private actors in the climate regime.

scholarly journals The future of climate policymaking in light of Urgenda Foundation v the Netherlands

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-124
Author(s):  
Irene Antonopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
State Obligations ◽  
Tackle Climate Change ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Dutch Supreme

The decision of the Dutch Supreme Court in The State of the Netherlands v Urgenda Foundation represents a breakthrough and a step forward in addressing the human rights aspects of climate change. The significance of the case has been recognised by commentators and the UN Human Rights Commissioner, who asked for a repeat of Urgenda’s journey in other jurisdictions. Despite the implication that other states have similar obligations to those construed by the Dutch Supreme Court, the influence of the case in other jurisdictions is yet to be seen. This article recognises the significance of the Urgenda case to the definition of state obligations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as part of their commitments under the European Convention on Human Rights. In particular, the article discusses the progress made in interpreting Articles 2 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in clarifying state obligations to take decisive measures to tackle climate change in line with their climate action commitments.

scholarly journals The Paris Agreement and the Prospects for Socialization into the Climate Norm: Lessons from the U.S. and China

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-97
Author(s):  
Jinhyun Lee
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Institutional Transformation ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Critical Elements ◽  
The Us ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The U.S

The Paris Agreement made a breakthrough amid the deadlock in climate negotiations, yet concerns are raised regarding how much impact the new voluntary climate regime can make. This paper investigates the socialization mechanism that the Paris Agreement sets up and explores the prospects of “institutional transformation” for it to make a dent. It examines the factors that can facilitate voluntary climate action by using the cases of the most recalcitrant emitters, the United States and China. It argues that the US and China cases suggest that the socialization from the bottom-up by domestic actors may be one of the critical elements that determine states’ position on climate change.

scholarly journals Human Rights and the New Sustainable Mechanism of the Paris Agreement: A New Opportunity to Promote Climate Justice

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 1-39
Author(s):  
Paola Villavicencio Calzadilla
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
New Era ◽  
Policies And Measures ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Looking Back ◽  
Development Mechanism

In the light of the new era of climate action under the Paris Agreement (PA) and the rights and justice issues raised by climate change-related policies and measures, this paper discusses the integration of a human rights component within the Sustainable Development Mechanism (SDM) of the PA. Established in article 6.4, the SDM is essentially a new mitigation mechanism available to all Parties aimed at helping them to achieve and increase their mitigation actions, while fostering sustainable development. Looking back at the experience of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, which bears great resemblance to the SDM, as well as to the human rights concerns raised during its implementation, the integration of human rights considerations into the SDM and its governing rules seems to be necessary to prevent negative outcomes and human rights harms when implemented. The adoption of such rules, consistent with international human rights, could provide an opportunity for State Parties to operationalise the language included in the PA and tackle the climate change challenge, while ensuring respect for human rights.

IDB Group and Climate Action

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Climate Finance ◽  
Development Bank ◽  
Multilateral Development Banks ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Development Banks ◽  
Bank Group

As one of the leading development partners for Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC), the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group) is fully committed to lead by example on climate change action. Since the signing of the Paris Agreement, the IDB Group has provided over $20 billion in Climate Finance, amounting to about 60% of all Climate Finance to the region from Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs).

Human Rights in the Paris Agreement

Climate Law ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 109-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoit Mayer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Human Rights Advocacy

The Paris Agreement contains the first mention of human rights in a climate change treaty. This article recounts the build-up of human rights advocacy since the Cancun Agreements. It then discusses the significance of the inclusion of a provision on human rights in the preamble to the Paris Agreement and explores other relevant provisions adopted at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the un Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris in December 2015.

scholarly journals Human rights v. Insufficient climate action: The Urgenda case

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Leijten
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Court Of Appeals ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
European Court ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Ex Post Facto ◽  
Rights Issue

Climate change is a human rights issue, but what exactly can courts require States to do in this regard? This contribution discusses the Dutch Urgenda case, in which the Court of Appeals recently found a violation of Articles 2 (right to life) and 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights and ordered the State to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020. Looking at the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on environmental issues, as well as the nature of positive obligations, it appears that Urgenda involves a more abstract situation and a more precise positive obligation than is usually the case in human rights adjudication. Because ex post facto complaints are no solution, and in light of the growing number of Urgenda-like cases pending before (international) courts, efforts need to be made to ensure that human rights `fit' climate change cases and courts can provide effective protection in this regard.

scholarly journals Dangerous Incrementalism of the Paris Agreement

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jen Iris Allan
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Nonstate Actors ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
New Era ◽  
The Past ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
Binding Agreement

After a decade of negotiation, countries adopted a new, legally binding agreement on climate change. Excitement for a new era in the climate regime is palpable among pundits and policy makers alike. But such enthusiasm largely overlooks that most of the Paris Agreement’s provisions represent continuity with existing climate policy, not a break with the past. This forum argues that the Paris Agreement is a dangerous form of incrementalism in two ways. First, it repackages existing rules that have already proven inadequate to reduce emissions and improve resilience. Second, state and nonstate actors celebrate the Agreement as a solution, conferring legitimacy on its rules; I suggest that, beyond the strong desire to avoid failure, developing countries and nongovernmental organizations accepted the Paris Agreement to secure the participation of the United States and to uphold previous agreements. Given the reification of existing rules, the ratchet-up mechanism and nonstate actors offer the last remaining hopes in global efforts to catalyze climate action on a scale necessary to safeguard the climate.

cop 25: Losing Sight of (Raising) Ambition

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-160
Author(s):  
Charlotte Streck ◽  
Moritz von Unger ◽  
Sandra Greiner
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Carbon Markets ◽  
Market Mechanisms ◽  
Political Bargaining ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Zero Carbon ◽  
Carbon Economy

The 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (cop-25) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (unfccc) became the longest cop on record – but yielded few results. It appears that four years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement, enthusiasm has waned and political bargaining and bean-counting have taken over. Countries, for even the slightest chance to keep temperatures ‘well below’ 2 degrees Celsius, must do much more than they have previously committed to and accelerate the shift towards a zero-carbon economy. However, the conference largely failed to heed the rallying cry of the Chilean presidency. The flagship decisions (grouped under the banner “Chile-Madrid Time for Action”) neither produced new commitments – enhancing ambition or finance for developing countries – nor new rules that would nudge countries closer to the climate action targets needed. The leftover pieces from last year’s negotiations of the “Paris Rulebook” were also not resolved, in particular the unfinished decisions on Article 6 on market- and non-market mechanisms. The procrastination shows that the new architecture of the Paris Agreement, while addressing several of the shortcomings of the Kyoto Protocol, suffers from its own weaknesses. The meager results of Madrid give reason to pause and reflect on the conditions that may hold countries back from fully embracing the Paris Agreement, but also to consider the future and nature of carbon markets and what is making the issue so difficult to resolve.

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