INTERNATIONALENVIRONMENTALGOVERNANCE:

THELAW-MAKERSDRANNALISASAVARESI

LecturerinEnvironmentalLawUniversityofStirling,UK

Internationalclimatechangelaw

UNFCCC,1992

KyotoProtocol,1997

ParisAgreement,2015

Howinternationallawaddressesclimatechange

Mitigation,adaptation

Finance

Information

Technology

Therolesofclimatechangetreaties

• Establishingmechanismsandproceduresforadoptingrulesonclimatechange-relatedaction,settlingdisputesandsupervisingimplementationandcompliance

Constitutional

• Settingstandardsforpreventing/mitigatingclimatechangeandforgrapplingwithitsimpacts

Regulation

• Settinghomogenouspracticesacrossjurisdictionstoreportemissionsandemissionreductionactivities

Harmonisation

Internationalclimatebureaucracy

COP21Paris,2015

ParisAgreement

Whatisit?

Whatdoesitdo?

Wherenext?

TheParisAgreement:Whatisit?

AProtocol?Anonlegallybindingdocument?

Apoliticaldeclaration?

Legalform

• CertainlyatreatyasdefinedunderArticle2.1.aVCLT• Mostpossiblyaprotocolinanythingbutname• RelationshipwiththeUNFCCCandtheKyotoProtocoltobeassessedonthebasisofParties’interpretationandfutureimplementation

Savaresi,TheParisAgreement:ANewBeginning?(2016)JournalofEnergy&NaturalResourcesLaw

Savaresi,TheParisAgreement:ARejoinder(2016)EJILTalk!

ParisAgreement:Whatdoesitdo?

Evolutionininternationalclimategovernance

Topdown

Bottomup

Obligationsofconduct(means)

Obligationsofresult

ParisAgreement:Coreelements

GlobalGoal

NationallyDeterminedContributions

Levelingpartiesobligations

MitigationReviewofeffectiveness

Reviewofimplementation

Reviewofcompliance

Transpa-rency

Acomparisonwithexistingclimatetreaties

WiththeUNFCCC

• ParisAgreementgreatleveller ofParties’obligations,mostsalientlyinrelationtomitigation andtheprovisionofinformation.

WiththeKyotoProtocol• DiminishedlegalforceattachedtoParties’mitigationcommitmentscompensatedbytheecumenicalpursuitofemissionreductions,aswellasbyaunitarysystemforthereviewofimplementation,complianceandeffectiveness.

Wherenext?

AdoptionParis,December

2015

OpenedforsignatureNewYork,April2016ChinaandUS

RatificationSeptember2016 Entryintoforce

November2016DesigningtheParis

Agreement‘rulebook’

Implementationby2020

Annalisa.savaresi@stir.ac.uk