International Climate Change Regime Research Articles

Which Canary in the Coalmine? The Arctic in the International Climate Change Regime

Due to its particular sensitivity to the increase of temperatures and to the important role that the region plays for the regulation of the global climate system, the Arctic is often described as the canary in the coal mine of climate change. This chapter considers the extent to which the climate regime addresses the particular vulnerability of the Arctic. The first step of this study analyses references to the Arctic region in the outcomes of climate change negotiations, as well as proposes further opportunities for these specificities to be taken into account. It then considers to which extent the status of the eight states sharing territorial jurisdiction in the region is comparable under the regime and the degree of their consequent obligations. Finally, the third section deliberates whether regional cooperation, under theauspices of the Arctic Council, has offered a venue to increase the visibility of Arctic specificities in the development of the international climate regime.

Climate Change, Sea Level Rise and Protecting Displaced Coastal Communities: Possible Solutions

Climate change and sea level rise are realities that are upon us and which will profoundly impact the lives and basic rights of millions of coastal residents all over the world. As the law stands both at the international and at certain national levels, the basic human rights of the climate displaced are not adequately protected. This paper identifies two possible displacement scenarios, based on the continued availability/non-availability of land in the face of sea level rise and other climate change impacts; namely, the sinking Small Island Developing States phenomeon, where land disappears and there is no surplus land to support habitation, and all other cases, where the coastal land is battered severely but it can be re-utilized through appropriate adaptation measures or even if coastal frontage land disappears there is still land available inland. On this basis, the paper proposes three possible solutions: (1) bilateral or regional treaties to facilitate resettlement of the inhabitants of sinking Small Island Developing States, (2) appropriate coastal climate change adaptation implemented via integrated coastal zone management and (3) creation of new arrangements under the international climate change regime to provide financial assistance and technological support to respond to both situations. Even though the primary focus of this paper is on coastal communities in South Asia, the lessons that it offers are relevant to other coastal contexts as well.

The European Union’s Performance in the International Climate Change Regime

The performance of the European Union (EU) in international climate policy improved significantly over much of the 1990s and 2000s with respect to goal achievement (effectiveness) and relevance. However, the failure of the Copenhagen Summit in 2009 represented a major backlash for the EU. This article argues that internal factors – including in particular the development of internal climate policy – have mostly enhanced the EU’s performance conditions, but can hardly account for the Copenhagen backlash. In contrast, situational and structural changes in the international configuration of climate politics first supported and then significantly impeded a good EU performance in the 2000s. Overall, distinguishing systematically between EU internal factors that are under the direct control of the EU itself and external conditions on which EU influence is more limited allows us to identify the evolution of the external political ‘environment’ of international EU leadership on climate change, and the failure of the EU to adapt its strategy timely to this evolving environment, as major forces underlying the Copenhagen backlash.

Global Responsibilities :

This article offers an examination of international developments central to globalisation in India and reviews India’s approach to some prominent multilateral treaty systems such as the United Nations (UN), the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the international climate change regime, and the nuclear non-proliferation and test-ban regimes. It argues that, to be a responsible and true global player, India needs to move beyond its membership of narrowly based power caucuses within these regimes to constructively address the greater challenges that these treaties are focused on. Thus, India’s engagement with the multilateral system needs to be one that serves the interests of the system rather than the national interests of India alone. Through a historical overview of India’s multilateralism, the article probes India’s variable contemporary performance in four substantive fields of foreign policy to assess India’s multilateral stance during the postCold War period. It evaluates India’s diplomatic approach to global challenges like climate change and the wider multilateral system to reiterate the need for India to engage further in multilateral diplomacy and address global challenges, going beyond narrow conceptions of the nation’s bilateral partnerships. India’s aspiration to be a great power will only materialise if it is prepared to balance its political and economic obligations, both nationally and internationally.

Opportunities for Forest Finance: Compliance and Voluntary Markets

The international climate change regime has the potential to increase revenue available for forest restoration projects in Commonwealth nations. There are three mechanisms which could be used to fund forest projects aimed at forest conservation, forest restoration and sustainable forest management. The first forest funding opportunity arises under the clean development mechanism, a flexibility mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. The clean development mechanism allows Annex I parties (industrialised nations) to invest in emission reduction activities in non-Annex 1 (developing countries) and the establishment of forest sinks is an eligible clean development mechanism activity. Secondly, parties to the Kyoto Protocol are able to include sustainable forest management activities in their national carbon accounting. The international rules concerning this are called the Land-Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry Guidelines. Thirdly, it is anticipated that at the upcoming Copenhagen negotiations that a Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) instrument will be created. This will provide a direct funding mechanism for those developing countries with tropical forests. Payments made under a REDD arrangement will be based upon the developing country with tropical forest cover agreeing to protect and conserve a designated forest estate. These three funding options available under the international climate change regime demonstrate that there is potential for forest finance within the regime. These opportunities are however hindered by a number of technical and policy barriers which prevent the ability of the regime to significantly increase funding for forest projects. There are two types of carbon markets, compliance carbon markets (Kyoto based) and voluntary carbon markets. Voluntary carbon markets are more flexible then compliance markets and as such offer potential to increase revenue available for sustainable forest projects.

The prospect of the United Nations' climate change negotiating framework: implications from Copenhagen and Cancun

Concluded with a piece of ‘Copenhagen Accord’ that is not legally binding, 13 days of seesaw battles on Denmark’s negotiation table did not yield any substantial results. Neither did the end of another 12 days of climate change conference in Mexico a year later in 2010, marked with a ‘Cancun Agreement’ that achieved nothing but money – the Green Climate Fund. For years, state leaders have gone home almost empty-handed. By late 2009, the international community had not accomplished their mission to complete the negotiations for an international climate change regime going forward from 2012 as enshrined in the Bali Roadmap. The Copenhagen and Cancun summits all proceeded within the UN’s framework as agreed in 1992, but a comprehensive, all-encompassing and legally binding climate change deal, which many activists and governments want, remains out of reach for the world. Is the current climate change negotiating framework outdated? To answer this question, we have to analyse briefly the outcomes of both conf...

Learning from Climate Variability: Adaptive Governance and the Pacific ENSO Applications Center

Abstract Adaptive governance is a pattern that began to emerge from conflicts over natural resources in the American West a few decades ago. This was a pragmatic response to the emerging evidence that effective control was dispersed among multiple authorities and interest groups, that efficiency was only one of the many goals to be reconciled in policy decision processes, and that science itself was politically contested. Climate change as a policy problem exhibits many of these same features and has similarly led to gridlock in international and national forums. But humankind is not without guidance in securing the protection of life, limb, and livelihood in the face of environmental distress, particularly with regard to the challenge of adaptation. One effective analogy can be drawn to adaptations in the face of large climate variability such as El Niño. This paper compares adaptive governance with the tradition of scientific management in the international climate change regime, and it explores an example of adaptive governance in responding to the effects of a severe El Niño event in the Pacific islands. This event illustrates some of the specific kinds of human choices that will be made by those who are concerned about climate change as a policy problem. The basic choice is not scientific management or adaptive governance but continuing with business as usual or opening the frame to a wider range of possibilities.

The European Union as a negotiator in the international climate change regime

While the leadership role of the European Union (EU) in the climate change regime has been largely acknowledged, less attention has been paid to identifying the reasons why the EU often fails in climate change negotiations. Such an undertaking is deemed imperative following the negative for the EU turn of events at the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit. There is sufficient literature to be found on the link between the Union’s unique and complex organizational structure and its inability to act cohesively and purposefully. This study seeks to add to this corpus by looking at the extent to which the EU has been able to learn from its mistakes and incorporate timely remedial action. Even though important, the EU’s failures as a global actor cannot be explained by only looking at its ineffective institutional architecture. A more systematic understanding of the reasons behind EU’s failures in climate talks is in fact needed. By using Underdal’s theory of ‘negotiation failure’, this study tries to explore the extent to which negotiation theory could help with better comprehending the obstacles that prevented the Union from getting more out of the climate negotiation process.

The Copenhagen Accord and the future of the international climate change regime

This paper analyses the environmental integrity, the nature and the political relevance of the Copenhagen Accord. According to the first two parameters, the Copenhagen Accord is not satisfactory. From a political point of view the conclusion is slightly different, albeit not positive. This paper concludes arguing that after the Copenhagen Conference the future of the international climate change legal regime is likely to be more fragmented, the Accord being one further piece of the global carbon puzzle.

The Copenhagen Accord and the future of the international climate change regime

This paper analyses the environmental integrity, the nature and the political relevance of the Copenhagen Accord. According to the first two parameters, the Copenhagen Accord is not satisfactory. From a political point of view the conclusion is slightly different, albeit not positive. This paper concludes arguing that after the Copenhagen Conference the future of the international climate change legal regime is likely to be more fragmented, the Accord being one further piece of the global carbon puzzle.

Governing the carbon offset market

AbstractCarbon offsets are produced and sold under the international climate change regime (the United Nations Kyoto Protocol) and also within an expanding voluntary offset market in which companies and individuals can voluntarily opt to compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions. The volume of carbon produced and consumed within compliance and voluntary markets has grown dramatically in the last 5 years, raising a number of governance challenges. This Focus Article gives an overview of the governance of the compliance and voluntary carbon offset markets, and considers the implications of their different governance structures for addressing climate change. It assesses recent changes in the governance of the voluntary carbon offset market in response to concerns about the credibility and robustness of voluntary carbon offsets. Several voluntary offset standards were launched in 2007–2009, including the Voluntary Carbon Standard and the Gold Standard. National governments have also taken regulatory action on voluntary offsets, notably the UK government who took the controversial decision in early 2009 to endorse only compliance carbon offsets for use in the UK voluntary market. The UK government's attempt to regulate the voluntary offset market provides a useful case through which to explore some of the inherent tensions in effectively governing the carbon offset market. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.This article is categorized under: Policy and Governance > Private Governance of Climate Change

The Long Way to the Copenhagen Accord: Climate Change Negotiations in 2009

The Copenhagen Summit did not conclude the 2 years negotiation process initiated in Bali in 2007. Ten official meetings among parties were not sufficient to reach a conclusion on the future of the international climate change regime after 2012. This paper summarizes the main issues addressed by the parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol tracks in the course of 2009, the longest year ever for climate change negotiations, and tries to explain the reasons behind the Summit's failures. Furthermore, an overview of the main points of the Copenhagen Accord is provided together with its implications and relation with the UNFCCC process.

The evolving role of carbon finance in promoting renewable energy development in China

The world is negotiating what the international climate change regime will look like after 2012—the year that current Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets expire—and the future of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is under discussion. Critics claim the scale of reductions that the CDM is driving in the developing world is insufficient from a scientific perspective if we are to avoid dangerous climate change, that the project-by-project crediting process is inefficient, and that the reductions being achieved are not “additional”—meaning they would have happened anyway and thus should not be financially supported. Yet, the efficacy of CDM must be examined in the broader context of carbon mitigation in the developing world and the actions that are taking place. This paper examines the role that the CDM has played in promoting renewable energy development in China in order to assess how international carbon finance can best be used to help promote emissions mitigation in the developing world. It also assesses how several options under consideration for reforming the current structure of the CDM in particular and developing country engagement in general may impact renewable energy development in China in the coming years.

The Legacy of the Climate Talks in Copenhagen: Hopenhagen or Brokenhagen?

This article explores the implications of the Copenhagen climate talks in December 2009 for the future of the international climate change regime.

6. Indigenous Peoples

Issues related to indigenous peoples and environmental law were discussed in 2010 in several human rights bodies and processes, at the tenth Conference of the Parties (COP-10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and under or in connection with the international climate change regime. Highlights include the prominent inclusion of traditional knowledge in the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization to the CBD (Nagoya Protocol), in-depth discussions on indigenous rights and corporate accountability, and progress on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, conservation of forest-carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest-carbon stocks (REDD+). This report will start with a review of the general developments on indigenous peoples’ rights that are relevant for international environmental law, focusing on developments in human rights bodies and processes related to conflicts between environmental protection and indigenous rights, on the one hand, and corporate accountability with respect to indigenous peoples on the other. It will then review the outcomes of the CBD COP-10 that are of relevance for indigenous peoples, including an overview of the international obligations related to access to, and benefit sharing from, the use of traditional knowledge and genetic resources held by indigenous and local communities contained in the Nagoya Protocol. The report will turn to the indigenous rights implications of ongoing negotiations on REDD + in a post-2012 international regime on climate change, as discussed under the CBD, international programs supporting REDD pilot activities, and the international climate change regime.

Small actor, big opinion: Least developed countries participation in climate change networks

Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are among the poorest countries in the world. They release little or no greenhouse gases emissions into atmosphere, making them the least responsible for climate change. Additionally, LDCs lack the finances, technology, and infrastructure to contribute to the enhancement of the international climate change regime. By all accounts these countries have every incentive to free ride off the climate change policies and programs of other countries. Yet, instead of allowing the negotiations to be dominated by the wealthy Annex I countries, the LDCs choose to be active in the meetings of climate change regime. Applying network analysis to the UNFCCC COP 14 conference, this paper uncovers the participation patters of the LDCs with a particular emphasis on meetings involving technology transfer and financial mechanisms.

The Legacy of the Climate Talks in Copenhagen: Hopenhagen or Brokenhagen?

This article explores the implications of the Copenhagen climate talks in December 2009 for the future of the international climate change regime.

Climate Change Decisions: International Influences on Argentina's Foreign Policy Decision Making

This paper aims to contribute to both environmental and Latin American foreign policy decision making literatures, both of which are comparatively underrepresented areas of study. Specifically, it analyzes the factors affecting former Argentine President Carlos Saul Menem when he chose to join the Kyoto Protocol in 1998 and, thus, the international climate change regime. President Menem made a bold announcement that his country would voluntarily reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, a pledge well beyond what was required of the developing nation (as prescribed by the Protocol). This paper suggests that international factors, specifically Menem’s desire to align his nation with the United States, critically influenced the president’s decision, thereby advancing the argument that in this instance international (and individual), and not domestic factors, determined the president’s behavior. The paper concludes with a discussion of the boarder implications of the importance of international variables in the decision making processes of Latin American leaders and environmental foreign policy.

Climate Change and the WTO: EU Emission Trading and the WTO Disciplines on Trade in Goods, Services and Investment Protection

This contribution examines the legal relationship between domestic trading in emission certificates and World Trade Organization (WTO) law. As domestic emission trading regimes differ – even when they are based on the international climate change regime – this article uses the EU emissions trading system as an example. In doing so, it also addresses the so-called project-based mechanisms, that is, the joint implementation and the clean development mechanisms (CDM) that are introduced under the Kyoto Protocol. This approach not only takes account of the fact that trading in emission certificates and credits resulting from these project-based mechanisms are economically and legally linked but also of the view that all three flexible instruments can be regarded as forms of emission trading, with trading under Article 17 of the Kyoto Protocol representing the ‘purest’ form of emissions trading.

Barriers to sugar mill cogeneration in India: Insights into the structure of post-2012 climate financing instruments

The Indian government has set the challenging goal of increasing its electricity capacity six- to eight-fold in the next 30 years in the context of significant capacity shortfalls and a financially ailing electricity sector. The central and state governments are subsidizing renewable energy because of energy security concerns, to promote domestic resources and a diversity of fuel supply. International funds made available through the international climate change regime could potentially provide much needed support to pay the higher costs that most renewable energy requires. This article performs a case study analysis of the history of the development of one renewable energy technology in India—cogeneration of sugarcane waste—focusing on the barriers this technology has faced in the past and now faces, and how well international and domestic efforts have worked to overcome these barriers. The goal of this work is to lend insight into the effective structure of future international support mechanisms being discussed for inclusion under the post-2012 climate change regime. This study finds that bagasse cogeneration has faced layers of informational, technical, regulatory and financial barriers that have changed over time, and differed significantly between the private and cooperative sugar sectors. Each of the programmes designed to support bagasse cogeneration had a role to play in enabling the bagasse cogeneration currently installed, and no single programme would have been successful on its own. Some barriers to the technology needed directed efforts designed to address the specific context of the sugar sector in India; simply subsidizing the technology or putting a price on carbon was not enough. Where climate (global) and development (local) priorities differ, projects that bring about international goals risk running into conflict with other more pressing domestic goals. Interviews at mills attempting to access carbon financing through the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) indicate that additionality-testing is a challenge to the effectiveness of this mechanism. Any effort to exploit the remaining 86% of the estimated national potential for high efficiency bagasse cogeneration will need to address the special financial and political conditions facing cooperative mills.