Innovativeness and Paralysis in International Climate Policy

Abstract

This article describes the challenges of using the constrained tools of international law to negotiate a sustainable framework to address climate change. It sets out to show how the particularities of the problem have led to creative and innovative solutions expanding the borders of international law. To this end, the article discusses carbon market mechanisms, the compliance regime of the Kyoto Protocol, and the emerging framework to create incentives to reduce land-based emissions in developing countries. These examples illustrate that the recognition of the role of sub-national and private entities in mitigating climate change has had significant impact on the rules of the climate regime. But the article also asserts that the un process, while recognizing the role of private actors, is still inadequately equipped to involve non-state actors in a meaningful way. The climate regime therefore challenges the traditional thinking about interstate relationships. No longer solely a matter for international environmental law, contemporary environmental governance has become a global affair, which makes the lens of transnational law a useful tool to think about these issues in practice in a more intellectually fruitful and relevant way. This article thereby provides a snapshot of the type of issues and discussion that readers of this journal can look forward to in the years to come.

Mapping the field: a bibliometric analysis of land use and carbon emissions (LUCE) research from 1987 to 2018

“…Research on LUCE has primarily focused on two topics: global and regional land change impacts on carbon emissions (Seto et al, 2012;Olesen and Bindi, 2002) and policy and legal constraints (Piao et al, 2009;Streck, 2012). As mentioned earlier, both topics are covered in multiple disciplines.…”

The Global Climate Regime: Explaining Lagging Reform

“…Moreover, decision‐making procedures within the UNFCCC have been the subject of calls for reform. The consensus requirement for reaching decisions under the UNFCCC has been criticized for slowing progress (Depledge, , Chapter 8; Streck, ). Many parties to the Framework Convention have repeatedly voiced concerns about consensus—and the early Conferences of the Parties (COPs) featured multiple attempts by some countries to adopt a voting rule of three‐fourths majority.…”

“…Some analysts have called for reforms to raise the UNFCCC's effectiveness. For example, the Compliance Committee of the Kyoto Protocol can ban parties from participation in emissions trading mechanisms, although it does not have the power to enforce its decision (Streck, , 148–149). This hampered the enforcement regime's ability to prevent noncompliance with emissions targets during the first Kyoto commitment period (2008–2012).…”

Introducing Transnational Environmental Law

“…The editorial by Jolene Lin and Joanne Scott reviews the third group of invited articles, which map out the key substantive fields in which environmental law will develop and -hopefully -flourish in the next ten years. Neil Gunningham makes the case for the field of environmental and energy law; 26 Charlotte Streck tackles the behemoth of global climate change; 27 Edith Brown Weiss identifies access to water as a rapidly growing pressure point in transnational environmental law; 28 and Alexander Gillespie discusses future directions in biodiversity law.…”