A comprehensive doctrinal study of states' obligations on climate change mitigation, showing that obligations arise not only from climate treaties, but also from customary international law, unilateral declarations, and human rights treaties, and exploring the interactions between these multiple obligations.

'UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called Climate Change "the defining issue of our era". It presents international law and lawyers with a wide range of novel issues, practical as well as conceptual. These challenges are addressed in this volume with great authority by many of the leading international law scholars of our generation. It is an important and distinctive contribution to the burgeoning literature on an issue critical for the future of our planet.' – David Freestone, George Washington University, US Climate change will fundamentally affect every area of human endeavour, including the development of international law. This book maps the current and potential impacts of climate change on the norms, principles, rules and processes of international law. This timely study brings together a group of leading scholars in their respective fields of international law to examine the impacts of climate change, and our responses to it, on the whole spectrum of international legal regimes, including those dealing with everything from climate displacement, human rights, and international trade and investment, to the oceans, the environment, armed conflicts and the use of force, and outer-space. the volume also examines the impacts of climate change on the underlying principles and processes of international law including those relating to the making and enforcement of international law and to third party dispute resolution. the book shows that there is much more to dealing with climate change than negotiating one global climate change-specific regime. Other areas of international law can, and must, be included in the solution. In this way international law can maximise its coherence and its efficacy. This well-documented study will appeal to international lawyers, academics, policy makers, government employees, negotiators, practitioners, international legal theorists and anyone interested in climate change and how to maximise our international legal and policy responses to it.

Climate change is a grave and urgent threat to human and other life, Earth's ecosystem, global security, and economic well-being. The global community increasingly understands that business as usual is no longer an option. Debate about states' legal obligations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions is still in its infancy. This seriously hinders progress through the political process or the courts. A group of legal experts has sought to fill this gap by drafting the Oslo Principles on Global Climate Change Obligations. The Principles identify states' reduction obligations and articulate a series of related obligations aimed at prevention. This book is an extensive commentary that further explains the Principles and their legal underpinning. The members of the expert group are: Antonio Benjamin, Michael Gerrard, Toon Huydecoper, Michael Kirby, M.C. Mehta, Thomas Pogge, Qin Tianbao, Dinah Shelton, James Silk, Jessica Simor, Jaap Spier (rapporteur), Elisabeth Steiner, and Philip Sutherland. (Series: Legal Perspectives for Global Challenges - Vol. 3) [Subject: International Law, Environmental Law]

A perfect introduction to climate change law, this textbook offers students and scholars an overview of the international law governing this fundamental issue. It demonstrates how to interpret the language used in the applicable instruments and conventions, and sets climate change law in its broader international legal context.

Die zweibändige Buchpublikation ist ein erster akademischer Versuch das internationale Klimaschutzrecht auch im Zusammenhang internationaler Klimapolitik systematisch darzustellen. Internationales Klimaschutzrecht ist nicht nur ein neues Rechtsgebiet. Das Phänomen Klimawandel durchdringt öffentliches und privates Recht sowie nationales und internationales Recht in unterschiedlichster Weise. Hierbei entstehen neue Bereiche der Rechtsanwendung - sowohl formeller als auch materieller Ausprägung. In diesem Zusammenhang befasst sich die zweibändige Buchpublikation mit dem regimefragmentierten internationalen Recht und dessen vielfach überlappenden Governance-Rahmen. Gekennzeichnet durch seine Komplexität wird das internationale Klimaschutzrecht und insbesondere die Rechte und Pflichten von Staaten und internationalen Akteuren untersucht und gegenübergestellt. In zahlreichen fachübergreifenden Beiträgen internationaler Experten erörtert das Werk die unterschiedlichen Rechts- und Governance-Regime sowie angrenzende völkerrechtliche und weltpolitische Fragestellungen den Klimawandel betreffend.Der erste Band befasst sich mit internationalen Rechtsfragen und den zugrunde liegenden Rechtsinstrumenten, welche den Klimawandel - eine der größten Herausforderungen unserer Zeit - betreffen. Dabei werden u.a. folgende Schwerpunkte gesetzt: Internationaler Klimaschutz und Völkerrecht; Klimawandel und Menschenrechte; verwandte welthandelsrechtliche Fragestellungen; Seerecht und der Anstieg der Meeresspiegel; gerichtliche Überprüfbarkeit und zahlreiche angrenzende Rechtsfragen wie zum Beispiel zu folgenden Themen: Klimaeindämmungsmaßnahmen, natürliches Ressourcen-Management und Klima-Engineering.Der zweite Band beleuchtet, ausgehend von dem Rahmenübereinkommen der Vereinten Nationen über Klimaänderungen, rechtliche, politische und transdisziplinäre Fragestellungen des Klimaschutzes im Spannungsgefüge internationaler Diplomatie und globaler Governance. Die Begrenzung der fortschreitenden Erderwärmung und der Schutz von Mensch und Umwelt vor den Folgen des Klimawandels werden u.a. im Zusammenhang folgender rechtlicher und gesellschaftspolitischer Schwerpunkte untersucht: Internationale Sicherheit; nachhaltige Entwicklung; Klimamigration; und Anpassung an den Klimawandel.

Global climate change is a topic of continuously growing interest. As more international treaties come into force, media coverage has increased and many universities are now starting to conduct courses specifically on climate change laws and policies. This textbook provides a survey of the international law on climate change, explaining how significant international agreements have sought to promote compliance with general norms of international law. Benoit Mayer provides an account of the rules agreed upon through lengthy negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and multiple other forums on mitigation, geoengineering, adaptation, loss and damage, and international support. The International Law on Climate Change is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students studying climate, environmental or international law. It is supported by a suite of online resources, available at www.internationalclimatelaw.com, featuring regularly updated lists of complementary materials, weblinks and regular updates for each chapter.

Do anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions affect human rights? Should fundamental rights constrain climate policies? Scientific evidence demonstrates that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions contribute to increasing atmospheric temperatures, soon passing the compromising threshold of 2° C. Consequences such as Typhoon Haiyan prove that climate alteration has the potential to significantly impair basic human needs. Although the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and human rights regulatory regimes have so far proceeded separately, awareness is arising about their reciprocal implications. Based on tripartite fundamental obligations, this volume explores the relationship between climate change and interdependent human rights, through the lens of an international and comparative perspective. Along the lines of the metaphor of the ‘wall’, the research ultimately investigates the possibility of overcoming the divide between universal rights and climate change, and underlying barriers. This book aims to be a useful resource not only for practitioners, policymakers, academics, and students in international, comparative, environmental law and politics and human rights, but also for the wider public.