The Oxford Handbook of International Climate Change Law

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
National Level ◽  
First Century ◽  
Trading Systems ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Weather Patterns ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
International Climate Change

Climate change presents one of the greatest challenges of our time, and has become one of the defining issues of the twenty-first century. The radical changes which both developed and developing countries will need to make, in economic and in legal terms, to respond to climate change are unprecedented. International law, including treaty regimes, institutions, and customary international law, needs to address the myriad challenges and consequences of climate change, including variations in the weather patterns, sea level rise, and the resulting migration of peoples. This book provides an authoritative overview of all aspects of international climate change law as it currently stands, with guidance for how it should develop in the future. This book sets out to analyse the legal issues that surround this vitally important but still emerging area of international law. This book addresses the major legal dimensions of the problems caused by climate change: not only in the content and nature of the international legal frameworks, which need implementation at the national level, but also the development of carbon trading systems as a means of reducing the costs of meeting emission reduction targets. After an introduction to the field, the book assesses the relevant institutions, the key applicable principles of international law, the international mitigation regime and its consequences, and climate change litigation, before providing perspectives focused upon specific countries or regions.

Methodological Issues in Climate Law

Climate Law ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Zahar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
International Climate ◽  
International Climate Change

This article is the fifth in a series of papers on the International Law Association’s assertion that the principle of prevention (i.e. the obligation of states in international law to prevent transboundary harm, also known as the no-harm rule) properly belongs to the corpus of international climate change law.1 I have been the only participant in the debate so far to refute the ila’s position. Here, I respond to the fourth article in the series, by Benoit Mayer. While Mayer has produced a lucid and helpful argument, he commits several errors in the process of defending and elaborating the ila thesis. I address them under this essay’s broad title because they are essentially errors of method.

Construing International Climate Change Law as a Compliance Regime

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoit Mayer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Multiple Processes ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Systematic Failure ◽  
No Harm Principle ◽  
International Climate Change

AbstractUnder the no-harm principle, states must prevent activities within their jurisdiction from causing extraterritorial environmental harm. It has been argued elsewhere that excessive greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from industrial states constitute a breach of this principle and instigate state responsibility. Yet, the relevance of general international law for climate change does not obviate a need for more specific international climate change agreements. This article argues that the climate regime is broadly compatible with general norms. It can, furthermore, address a gap in compliance with general international law – namely, the systematic failure of industrial states to cease excessive GHG emissions and to provide adequate reparations. As a compliance regime, the international climate change law regime defines global ambition and national commitments and initiates multiple processes to raise awareness, set political agendas, and progressively build momentum for states to comply with their obligations under general international law.

Mapping The Field

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cinnamon Carlarne ◽  
Kevin R. Gray ◽  
Richard Tarasofsky
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Kyoto Protocol ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Developed Country ◽  
International Climate ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
International Climate Change

This introductory chapter outlines the scope and development of international climate change law which addresses the unique nature of climate change and its complexities. The twentieth century saw the international community identifying and recognizing climate change as a global problem. Drawing from the basic tenets of international environmental law, the United Nations established two international legal frameworks that form the backbone of the international climate change regime—the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Kyoto Protocol. The UNFCCC, as a framework instrument, sets the parameters for global discourse and provides an essential forum for dialogue and decision-making on climate change matters. It is extended and complimented by the Kyoto Protocol, which sets out legally binding emission reduction obligations for developed country parties, provides for a series of market-based mitigation tools, and generally adds further contour to the legal framework established under the UNFCCC.

One Tonne of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (1tCO2e)

2018 ◽  
pp. 305-318
Author(s):  
Julia Dehm
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Equivalent ◽  
International Climate Change ◽  
The Way

The ‘object’ of 1tCO2e has become central to how we imagine the problem of climate change and its possible solutions. This chapter explores the complex relationship between international law and 1tCO2e an as ‘object’. It demonstrates the way in which international law plays a fundamental and constitutive role in defining, stabilizing, and protecting the ‘object’ of 1tCO2e. It shows that there is nothing ‘natural’ or ‘inherent’ in thinking about carbon as standardized, commensurable, substitutable, and exchangeable, but rather that the imaginary of carbon as a fungible ‘object’ is a mode of legibility structured by international law. Simultaneously, this mode of legibility has been the enabling precondition for the marketized form that international climate change regulation and governance has taken. As such, this chapter analyses how the ‘object’ of 1tCO2e is thus both the effect of and the enabling condition for specific modes of international legal regulation.

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