IELRC.ORG - Climate Change and Energy
 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

Climate Change and Energy

Global warming is one of the most debated environmental issues at the international level. Negotiations for the development of a binding legal regime to reduce harmful emissions have been marred by a number of controversies since the late 1980s.

Firstly, the scientific consensus found in the series of reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has not yet provided the basis for the implementation of effective strategies applied by all States.

Secondly, the contributions of different states to global warming over time is strongly linked to their present level of economic development.

Thirdly, for most developing countries, global warming sometimes remains a less urgent problem than a host of other environmental problems whose impacts threaten lives and livelihoods today.

The evolving global warming legal regime reflects these varied and often conflicting considerations. In particular, the Climate Change Convention and Kyoto Protocol both provide for different commitments for developed and developing countries. The climate change regime is also noteworthy for its attempt to use market-based implementation mechanisms. These include emissions trading and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) both of which aim at lowering the cost of compliance for developed countries.

The following publications focus on the legal and policy implications of the development of the climate change regime. They focus in particular on issues of equity, the relationship between natural resource management and climate change and the identification of opportunities for cooperation between developed and developing countries in the implementation of the convention in particular in the context of the CDM.

 

Selected Publications on Climate Change and Energy

 

An International Legal Framework for SE4All: Human Rights and Sustainable Development Law Imperatives

author(s): Thoko Kaime, Rob Glicksman
source: 38 Fordham International Law Journal 1405.
date: 2015
publication: academic
abstract full text 403 [KB]
 

Final Word: Democracy, Legitimacy and International Climate Change Law and Policy

author(s): Thoko Kaime
source: International Climate Change Law and Policy: Cultural Legitimacy in Adaptation and Mitigation, London: Routledge (2014), p. 206-219.
date: 2014
publication: academic
abstract full text 152 [KB]
 

Climate Change Adaptation and Water Policy: Lessons from Singapore

author(s): Lovleen Bhullar
source: 21/3 Sustainable Development (2013) p. 152-159.
date: 2013
publication: academic
abstract full text 109 [KB]
 

Climate Change, Law and Indigenous Peoples in Kenya

author(s): Patricia Kameri-Mbote and Elvin Nyukuri
source: in Abate Randall S. & Elizabeth Ann Kronk, eds., Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples and the Search for Legal Remedies (London: Edward Elgar, 2013).
date: 2013
publication: academic
abstract full text 149 [KB]
 

Climate Change and Gender Justice: International Policy and Legal Responses

author(s): Patricia Kameri-Mbote
source: in OC Ruppel, C Roschmann, K Ruppel-Schlichting eds, International Climate Law and Global Governance: Legal Responses to a Changing Environment (Baden-Baden: Nomos Publishers, 2013), p. 323-48.
date: 2013
publication: academic
abstract full text 276 [KB]
 

Cultural Legitimacy and Regulatory Transitions for Climate Change - A Discursive Framework

author(s): Thoko Kaime
source: Carbon and Climate Law Review (3/2011), p. 321-28.
date: 2011
publication: academic
abstract full text 165 [KB]
 

Governance on Adaptation to Climate Change in the ASEAN Region

author(s): Koh Kheng Lian & Lovleen Bhullar
source: 1 Carbon and Climate Law Review (2011), p. 82-90.
date: 2011
publication: academic
abstract full text 104 [KB]
 

The Kyoto Protocol and vulnerability: human rights and equity dimensions

author(s): Philippe Cullet
source: in Stephen Humphreys ed., Human Rights and Climate Change (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. 183-206.
date: 2010
publication: academic
abstract full text 81 [KB]
 

Forest Carbon Offsets and International Law: A Deep Equity Legal Analysis

author(s): David Takacs
source: 22 Georgetown International Environmental Law Review 521 (2010)
date: 2010
publication: academic
abstract full text 202 [KB]
 

The Global Warming Regime After 2012 - Towards a Focus on Equity, Vulnerability and Human Rights

author(s): Philippe Cullet
source: 43/28 Economic and Political Weekly (12 July 2008), p. 109.
date: 2008
publication: academic
abstract full text 170 [KB]
 

Liability and Redress for Human-Induced Global Warming - Towards an International Regime

author(s): Philippe Cullet
source: 43A Stanford Journal of International Law (2007), p. 99-121.
date: 2007
publication: academic
abstract full text 122 [KB]
 

Equity and Flexibility Mechanisms in the Climate Change Regime: Conceptual and Pratical Issues

author(s): Philippe Cullet
source: 8/2 Review of European Community and International Environmental Law (1999), p. 168
date: 1999
publication: academic
abstract full text 208 [KB]
 

Joint Implementation and Forestry Projects - Conceptual and Operational Fallacies

author(s): Philippe Cullet, Patricia Kameri-Mbote
source: 74/2 International Affairs (1998), p. 393
date: 1998
publication: academic
abstract full text 129 [KB]