 A legal standard for state mitigation efforts: is national discretion bound to shrink over time?Christopher Campbell-Duruflé Chapter 5 in Research Handbook on the Law of the Paris Agreement, 2024, pp 82-103 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: Every five years, parties to the Paris Agreement are obliged to communicate a new greenhouse-gas-emission mitigation target known as a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). These targets are not legally binding, and states retain significant discretion over their level of mitigation effort. This raises the question whether the Agreement contains a standard (binding or not) applicable to the substance of NDC targets. In this chapter, I identify a ‘bundle’ of provisions that, taken together, grant parties considerable discretion in choosing their targets and implementation measures. Yet, I also argue that the Agreement’s mitigation standard has the potential to become increasingly stringent each time parties complete a new cycle of target-setting and international accountability. I offer examples of NDC communications, domestic laws and policies, and climate-litigation cases that suggest that national discretion under the Agreement has already begun to shrink. Further research into this dynamic area of international climate law is called for. Keywords: Environment; Law - Academic; Politics and Public Policy Sustainable Development Goals (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:20733_5 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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