Introduction on international climate change law
The United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was opened for signature in 1992 and came into force in 1994 with almost universal acceptance. Although the international agreement is legally binding, the UNFCCC is recognised as a 'framework convention' which allows states to engage in cooperative behaviour towards an environmental problem but does not relate to any explicit way. This allows for a flexible approach and implementation while paving the way for future protocols and regulatory instruments to increase the obligations of signatories, once the scientific knowledge and political will has evolved. This vagueness in the obligations of states is symbolised by states having to impose a limitation rather than a reduction in emissions and globally leans towards a stabilisation of carbon dioxide at 445-490ppm.
By their nature, framework conventions allow for further development such as the Kyoto Protocol (KP) - adopted in 1997, which goes further in naming GHGs and using their global warming potential as a marker for their contribution to the greenhouse effect. Some 30 gases are recognised to contribute to the greenhouse effect but the KP only outlines regulation for six with many of the other gases already being regulated by other protocols, for example the Montreal Protocol (1987) on 'Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer'. The six gases regulated by the KP are:
By their nature, framework conventions allow for further development such as the Kyoto Protocol (KP) - adopted in 1997, which goes further in naming GHGs and using their global warming potential as a marker for their contribution to the greenhouse effect. Some 30 gases are recognised to contribute to the greenhouse effect but the KP only outlines regulation for six with many of the other gases already being regulated by other protocols, for example the Montreal Protocol (1987) on 'Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer'. The six gases regulated by the KP are:
- carbon dioxide (CO2)
- methane (CH4)
- nitrogen dioxide (N2O)
- hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
- sulphur hexafluorides (SF6)
- perfluorocarbons (PFCs)