Transnational Climate Law

Abstract

Climate change has been a prime arena for the development of transnational environmental law. Because climate change involves global systems with complex local linkages, the governance regime mixes the local and the global. National governments have taken action unilaterally and have been joined by non-state actors, which include subnational governments, corporations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). 1 Subnational governments have also entered into cooperation agreements with each other and with foreign nations. 2 Thus, climate change law has broken through the traditional boundaries of international law, requiring a shift to the new paradigm of transnational law. Moreover, because of the ubiquitous impacts of climate change, climate law intersects with many other legal regimes. Climate change is caused by the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs), primarily from manufacturing and the energy sector, which are also two major causes of air and water pollution. Methods of addressing climate change are almost guaranteed to address air pollution issues by reducing reliance on combustion processes and the use of oil refineries, prime sources of pollution. Extraction, processing, and transportation of fossil fuels are implicated in a host of environmental problems from land disturbance to water pollution, all subject to regulation of various kinds. Other carbon emissions result from land-use change, particularly deforestation, and implicate that branch of environmental law. All of these activities are subject to their own legal regimes. Adaptation to climate change will involve yet further legal regimes. Thus, the climate issue involves an enormous range of human activities, most of which are subject to their own, often fragmented and complex legal regimes. Scholars are only beginning to map this evolving and complex landscape. In the light of the distinctive qualities of climate change and its relation to law, it is not surprising that this journal has been a particularly welcoming venue for new ideas surrounding climate change law. 3 As the Introduction to the first issue of Transnational Environmental Law (TEL)

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“…rights revolution, 9 the spread of global environmental constitutionalism, 10 the maturing of global environmental law, 11 and the tragedies and triumphs of the evolving field of climate law. 12 As the decade ends, despite meaningful progress in cultivating legal strategies to address environmental challenges, we find ourselves facing mounting challenges with regard to the rule of law and environmental degradation, particularly climate change.…”