Pub Date : 2017-09-01DOI: 10.1163/18786561-00702002
B. Mayer, Mikko Rajavuori, Mandy Meng Fang
China plans the implementation of a nationwide market-based mechanism for greenhouse gas mitigation, appearing thus to replicate the method used most notably in the European Union to price greenhouse gas emissions. However, China’s new mechanism represents only be the tip of the mitigation iceberg. Banking on the unique characteristics of a socialist market economy, China’s government has largely relied on State-Owned Enterprises as a tool for implementing rapid change. In this article, we discuss the role played by Chinese SOE s to advance the country’s ambitious mitigation objectives. After a general description of the incentives created for emission limitation and energy saving through SOE supervision, we highlight the corresponding efforts made in the fossil-fuel, power-generation, and other key mitigation sectors.
{"title":"The Contribution of State-Owned Enterprises to Climate Change Mitigation in China","authors":"B. Mayer, Mikko Rajavuori, Mandy Meng Fang","doi":"10.1163/18786561-00702002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18786561-00702002","url":null,"abstract":"China plans the implementation of a nationwide market-based mechanism for greenhouse gas mitigation, appearing thus to replicate the method used most notably in the European Union to price greenhouse gas emissions. However, China’s new mechanism represents only be the tip of the mitigation iceberg. Banking on the unique characteristics of a socialist market economy, China’s government has largely relied on State-Owned Enterprises as a tool for implementing rapid change. In this article, we discuss the role played by Chinese SOE s to advance the country’s ambitious mitigation objectives. After a general description of the incentives created for emission limitation and energy saving through SOE supervision, we highlight the corresponding efforts made in the fossil-fuel, power-generation, and other key mitigation sectors.","PeriodicalId":38485,"journal":{"name":"Climate Law","volume":"7 1","pages":"97-124"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2017-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/18786561-00702002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44469651","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-09-01DOI: 10.1163/18786561-00702006
Samvel Varvaštian
When it comes to climate litigation, environmental plaintiffs in the United States have demonstrated a remarkable ingenuity in terms of utilizing various legal avenues to compensate for the persisting regulatory gaps. In the last few years, the public trust doctrine and constitutional law have been present among these, in an attempt to put the risks associated with climate change on the map of human rights in relation to the environment and natural resources. However, despite a nationwide occurrence of such lawsuits, courts have been cautious in their approach to them. Similar lawsuits have emerged outside the United States, in Europe and Asia, demonstrating some viability. This analysis addresses the recent litigation in Pennsylvania, where petitioners asked the court to order the state government to take action on climate change and to declare such action a constitutional obligation under the state’s Constitution. 1
{"title":"Current Legal Developments Climate Change and the Constitutional Obligation to Protect Natural Resources: The Pennsylvania Atmospheric Trust Litigation","authors":"Samvel Varvaštian","doi":"10.1163/18786561-00702006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18786561-00702006","url":null,"abstract":"When it comes to climate litigation, environmental plaintiffs in the United States have demonstrated a remarkable ingenuity in terms of utilizing various legal avenues to compensate for the persisting regulatory gaps. In the last few years, the public trust doctrine and constitutional law have been present among these, in an attempt to put the risks associated with climate change on the map of human rights in relation to the environment and natural resources. However, despite a nationwide occurrence of such lawsuits, courts have been cautious in their approach to them. Similar lawsuits have emerged outside the United States, in Europe and Asia, demonstrating some viability. This analysis addresses the recent litigation in Pennsylvania, where petitioners asked the court to order the state government to take action on climate change and to declare such action a constitutional obligation under the state’s Constitution. 1","PeriodicalId":38485,"journal":{"name":"Climate Law","volume":"7 1","pages":"209-226"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2017-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/18786561-00702006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45106027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-09-01DOI: 10.1163/18786561-00702004
Yixin Xu
China’s policymakers regard forest carbon sequestration as one of the most cost-effective ways to combat climate change. Yet, scholars argue that foreign forest carbon projects in developing countries are environmentally and socially unsustainable. This paper explores China’s policy and legal framework for the sustainability of forest carbon projects that utilize international carbon-certification schemes. It finds that while China’s government has set ambitious climate goals for the forest sector, the applicable regulations are not comprehensively developed, and risks of unsustainability exist in practice. The government should undertake comprehensive institutional reform, including reform to establish implementation regulations for REDD projects, adjust laws on forest and land to address climate risks, set up regulatory social-impact assessments, and create a greater demand for private forest sustainability assessments. 1
{"title":"An Analysis of China’s Legal and Policy Framework for the Sustainability of Foreign Forest Carbon Projects","authors":"Yixin Xu","doi":"10.1163/18786561-00702004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18786561-00702004","url":null,"abstract":"China’s policymakers regard forest carbon sequestration as one of the most cost-effective ways to combat climate change. Yet, scholars argue that foreign forest carbon projects in developing countries are environmentally and socially unsustainable. This paper explores China’s policy and legal framework for the sustainability of forest carbon projects that utilize international carbon-certification schemes. It finds that while China’s government has set ambitious climate goals for the forest sector, the applicable regulations are not comprehensively developed, and risks of unsustainability exist in practice. The government should undertake comprehensive institutional reform, including reform to establish implementation regulations for REDD projects, adjust laws on forest and land to address climate risks, set up regulatory social-impact assessments, and create a greater demand for private forest sustainability assessments. 1","PeriodicalId":38485,"journal":{"name":"Climate Law","volume":"7 1","pages":"150-184"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2017-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/18786561-00702004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43539463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-09-01DOI: 10.1163/18786561-00702005
Gu Gong, Ran An
Article 58 of China’s Environmental Protection Law 2014 ( EPL ) makes up for the earlier inadequacy of China’s environmental public-interest litigation ( ENVPIL ), but its actual efficacy needs to be tested in practice. An analysis of the 38 cases accepted and heard in 2015 shows that ENVPIL has indeed experienced some development since the EPL came into force. Significant progress has been made in terms of the number and scope of cases accepted, range of plaintiffs and defendants, completion rates, the trial mechanism, and jurisdiction. However, there are still many problems relating to the acceptance and hearing of cases, the role of environmental protection tribunals, the selection criteria for cases, the identification of plaintiffs’ qualifications, and the determination of legal liability. Institutional factors, rather than legal texts, determine the future of China’s ENVPIL . Overall, however, the developments are positive. This is important for all areas of environmental law in China, including the country’s still nascent climate change law. 1
{"title":"Progress and Obstacles in Environmental Public-Interest Litigation under China’s New Environmental Law: An Analysis of Cases Accepted and Heard in 2015","authors":"Gu Gong, Ran An","doi":"10.1163/18786561-00702005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18786561-00702005","url":null,"abstract":"Article 58 of China’s Environmental Protection Law 2014 ( EPL ) makes up for the earlier inadequacy of China’s environmental public-interest litigation ( ENVPIL ), but its actual efficacy needs to be tested in practice. An analysis of the 38 cases accepted and heard in 2015 shows that ENVPIL has indeed experienced some development since the EPL came into force. Significant progress has been made in terms of the number and scope of cases accepted, range of plaintiffs and defendants, completion rates, the trial mechanism, and jurisdiction. However, there are still many problems relating to the acceptance and hearing of cases, the role of environmental protection tribunals, the selection criteria for cases, the identification of plaintiffs’ qualifications, and the determination of legal liability. Institutional factors, rather than legal texts, determine the future of China’s ENVPIL . Overall, however, the developments are positive. This is important for all areas of environmental law in China, including the country’s still nascent climate change law. 1","PeriodicalId":38485,"journal":{"name":"Climate Law","volume":"7 1","pages":"185-208"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2017-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/18786561-00702005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41373366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-09-01DOI: 10.1163/18786561-00702003
Hao Zhang, P. Xu
This article examines whether ‘trial and error’ is an effective approach to the design of regulations for China’s emission-trading pilot programs. These pilots are designed and operated at local levels for the purpose of testing regulatory design and implementation, with the hope that a national scheme will be built on these experiences. Through an examination of China’s involvement in the Clean Development Mechanism, design and operating principles for emission trading, and China’s regulatory and institutional framework for emission reductions, this article argues that the trial-and-error approach helps the regulatory design of local pilot programs to be adaptive to local circumstances. Such circumstances include local laws, institutional capacities, and developmental priorities. But trial and error also has shortcomings, namely in its capacity to mediate the competing demands of environmental sustainability, commercial viability, financial integrity, and political legitimacy. This article contains lessons for the construction of China’s national emission-trading scheme.
{"title":"Designing Regulation for China’s Emission-Trading Pilot Programs Through Trial and Error: An Effective Approach?","authors":"Hao Zhang, P. Xu","doi":"10.1163/18786561-00702003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18786561-00702003","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines whether ‘trial and error’ is an effective approach to the design of regulations for China’s emission-trading pilot programs. These pilots are designed and operated at local levels for the purpose of testing regulatory design and implementation, with the hope that a national scheme will be built on these experiences. Through an examination of China’s involvement in the Clean Development Mechanism, design and operating principles for emission trading, and China’s regulatory and institutional framework for emission reductions, this article argues that the trial-and-error approach helps the regulatory design of local pilot programs to be adaptive to local circumstances. Such circumstances include local laws, institutional capacities, and developmental priorities. But trial and error also has shortcomings, namely in its capacity to mediate the competing demands of environmental sustainability, commercial viability, financial integrity, and political legitimacy. This article contains lessons for the construction of China’s national emission-trading scheme.","PeriodicalId":38485,"journal":{"name":"Climate Law","volume":"7 1","pages":"125-149"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2017-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/18786561-00702003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46490725","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-01-09DOI: 10.1163/18786561-00701003
J. Dafoe
{"title":"Aviation and Climate Change: In Search of a Global Market Based Measure, written by Ruwantissa Abeyratne","authors":"J. Dafoe","doi":"10.1163/18786561-00701003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18786561-00701003","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38485,"journal":{"name":"Climate Law","volume":"7 1","pages":"58-60"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/18786561-00701003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44918664","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-01-09DOI: 10.1163/18786561-00701004
K. Upston-Hooper, Emilie Yliheljo
{"title":"Fraud and Carbon Markets: The Carbon Connection, written by Marius-Christian Frunza","authors":"K. Upston-Hooper, Emilie Yliheljo","doi":"10.1163/18786561-00701004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18786561-00701004","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38485,"journal":{"name":"Climate Law","volume":"7 1","pages":"61-64"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/18786561-00701004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43696106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-01-09DOI: 10.1163/18786561-00701002
Jesse L. Reynolds
{"title":"Climate Justice and Geoengineering: Ethics and Policy in the Atmospheric Anthropocene, edited by Christopher J. Preston","authors":"Jesse L. Reynolds","doi":"10.1163/18786561-00701002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18786561-00701002","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38485,"journal":{"name":"Climate Law","volume":"7 1","pages":"53-57"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/18786561-00701002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45659757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-01-09DOI: 10.1163/18786561-00701001
J. Verschuuren
The land sector is essential to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goals. Agriculture and land use contribute between 20 and 25 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris Agreement’s aim to keep the average global temperature rise between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius implies that drastic emission cuts from agriculture are needed. The sequestration potential of agriculture and land use offers an important mechanism to achieve a transition to net-zero carbon emissions worldwide. So far, however, states have been reluctant to address emissions from, and sequestration by, the agricultural sector. Some states that have or are setting up a domestic emission-trading scheme allow for the generation of offsets in agriculture, but only to a limited extent. Australia is the only country that has a rather broad set of methodologies in place to award credits to farmers for all kinds of carbon-farming projects. This article reviews the experience with the Australian model so far, with the objective of articulating transferable lessons for regulatory design aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. It finds that it is possible to regulate for the reduction of emissions from agriculture and for increased sequestration in agricultural soils and in vegetation on agricultural lands, provided that certain conditions are met. Regulation must focus on individual projects at farms, based on a long-term policy that has a wider focus than just emission reduction. Such projects must comply with climate-smart methodologies that ensure the delivery of real, additional, measurable, and verifiable emission reductions and also foster long-term innovation and create economic, social, and environmental co-benefits. Moreover, a robust and reliable mrv system must be put in place.
{"title":"Towards a Regulatory Design for Reducing Emissions from Agriculture: Lessons from Australia’s Carbon Farming Initiative","authors":"J. Verschuuren","doi":"10.1163/18786561-00701001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18786561-00701001","url":null,"abstract":"The land sector is essential to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goals. Agriculture and land use contribute between 20 and 25 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris Agreement’s aim to keep the average global temperature rise between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius implies that drastic emission cuts from agriculture are needed. The sequestration potential of agriculture and land use offers an important mechanism to achieve a transition to net-zero carbon emissions worldwide. So far, however, states have been reluctant to address emissions from, and sequestration by, the agricultural sector. Some states that have or are setting up a domestic emission-trading scheme allow for the generation of offsets in agriculture, but only to a limited extent. Australia is the only country that has a rather broad set of methodologies in place to award credits to farmers for all kinds of carbon-farming projects. This article reviews the experience with the Australian model so far, with the objective of articulating transferable lessons for regulatory design aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. It finds that it is possible to regulate for the reduction of emissions from agriculture and for increased sequestration in agricultural soils and in vegetation on agricultural lands, provided that certain conditions are met. Regulation must focus on individual projects at farms, based on a long-term policy that has a wider focus than just emission reduction. Such projects must comply with climate-smart methodologies that ensure the delivery of real, additional, measurable, and verifiable emission reductions and also foster long-term innovation and create economic, social, and environmental co-benefits. Moreover, a robust and reliable mrv system must be put in place.","PeriodicalId":38485,"journal":{"name":"Climate Law","volume":"7 1","pages":"1-51"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/18786561-00701001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44658249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-10-14DOI: 10.1163/18786561-00603002
F. Esu, F. Sindico
The aim of this article is to critically examine, from a legal perspective, the relationship between the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The IEA was established in 1973 in response to the global oil crisis. It currently has 29 member states. Its original mandate has been expanded to include ensuring reliable, affordable, and clean energy. IRENA was established in 2009. Its main objective is to promote sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy. With 138 member states, and many more in the process of accession, IRENA is becoming a truly universal organization. Both the IEA and IRENA focus their attention on sustainable energy. Is there an institutional overlap or an unnecessary duplication in scope? Are IRENA’s activities in sustainable energy, which seemingly parallel those of the IEA, justified by its aims and global reach? By addressing these and related questions, the article discusses whether the relationship between the IEA and IRENA can be seen as competition or collaboration. The relationship is analysed within the context of the UN Sustainable Energy for All Initiative.
{"title":"IRENA and IEA : moving together towards a sustainable energy future—competition or collaboration?","authors":"F. Esu, F. Sindico","doi":"10.1163/18786561-00603002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18786561-00603002","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this article is to critically examine, from a legal perspective, the relationship between the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The IEA was established in 1973 in response to the global oil crisis. It currently has 29 member states. Its original mandate has been expanded to include ensuring reliable, affordable, and clean energy. IRENA was established in 2009. Its main objective is to promote sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy. With 138 member states, and many more in the process of accession, IRENA is becoming a truly universal organization. Both the IEA and IRENA focus their attention on sustainable energy. Is there an institutional overlap or an unnecessary duplication in scope? Are IRENA’s activities in sustainable energy, which seemingly parallel those of the IEA, justified by its aims and global reach? By addressing these and related questions, the article discusses whether the relationship between the IEA and IRENA can be seen as competition or collaboration. The relationship is analysed within the context of the UN Sustainable Energy for All Initiative.","PeriodicalId":38485,"journal":{"name":"Climate Law","volume":"6 1","pages":"233-249"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2016-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/18786561-00603002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64430242","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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