Climate change: too complex for a special regime

Abstract

Climate change is a complex problem touching on a range of bodies of international law, yet international lawyers – with a few exceptions – have tended to focus only on the limited United Nations framework. The IBA's recent report on climate change justice takes initial steps toward recognising the broader set of international law challenges thrown up by the human cost of climate change, including in the areas of trade law and human rights, and offers practical recommendations to improve the international legal environment.

Notes

1 For example, Stephen Humphreys (ed), Human Rights and Climate Change (Cambridge University Press 2009). See also International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP), Climate Change and Human Rights: A Rough Guide (ICHRP 2008); Stephen Humphreys, ‘Climate Change and International Human Rights Law’ in Rosemary Rayfuse and Shirley Scott (eds), International Law in the Era of Climate Change (Edward Elgar 2012); Stephen Humphreys, ‘Climate Justice: The Claim of the Past’ (2014) 5 Journal of Human Rights and the Environment 134.

2 Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Seeking Relief from Violations Resulting from Global Warming Caused by Acts and Omissions of the United States, Submitted by Sheila Watt-Cloutier, with the Support of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, on Behalf of All Inuit of the Arctic Regions of the United States and Canada (7 December 2005) http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/library/legal_docs/petition-to-the-inter-american-commission-on-human-rights-on-behalf-of-the-inuit-circumpolar-conference.pdf accessed 3 September 2015.

3 International Bar Association (IBA), Achieving Justice and Human Rights in an Era of Climate Disruption, International Bar Association Climate Change Justice and Human Rights Task Force Report (IBA 2014) 2.

4 See, for example, ICHRP (n 1) ch 4; Humphreys, ‘Climate Change and International Human Rights Law’ (n 1) 33–38; and JH Knox, ‘Climate Change and Human Rights Law’ (2009) 50(2) Virginia Journal of International Law 163. Existing literature references in particular case law linking environmental due diligence to human rights harms, such as, at the European Court of Human Rights, Öneryıldız v Turkey (2005) 41 EHRR 20 (Application no 48939/99, Judgment of 30 November 2004, finding an obligation on the state to act where ‘immediate and known’ human rights risks had been identified in an environmental impact report).

5 See, for example, contributions to Jane McAdam (ed), Climate Change and Displacement: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Hart 2010) or, more recently, Universal Rights Group (URG), Human Rights, Climate Change and Cross-border Displacement: The Role of the International Human Rights Community in Contributing to Effective and Just Solutions (URG 2015).

6 Appellate Body Reports, Canada – Certain Measures Affecting the Renewable Energy Generation Sector; Canada – Measures Relating to the Feed-in Tariff Program, WT/DS412/AB/R, WT/DS426/AB/R (6 May 2013) (adopted 24 May 2013); Panel Reports, Canada – Certain Measures Affecting the Renewable Energy Generation Sector; Canada – Measures Relating to the Feed-in Tariff Program, WT/DS412/R, WT/DS426/R (19 December 2012) (adopted 24 May 2013). For discussion: Sherzod Shadikhodjaev, ‘First WTO Judicial Review of Climate Change Subsidy Issues’ (2014) 106 American Journal of International Law 864.

7 The full list of recommendations is provided in an ‘Action Matrix’ appended to the report's Executive Summary. See IBA (n 3) 26–31.

8 International Law Association (ILA), Report of the International Law Association's Committee on Legal Principles Relating to Climate Change (Washington Conference: Legal Principles Relating to Climate Change, 2 July 2014) http://ssrn.com/abstract=2461556, accessed 3 November 2015.

9 The publications of the current incumbent, John Knox, may be accessed on the following website: www.srenvironment.org.