A comprehensive assessment of options for the legal form of the Paris Climate Agreement OPTIMIZING THE WIDE SPECTRUM OF LEGAL OPTIONS

Sandrine Maljean-Dubois (1) , Matthieu Wemaere (1) , Thomas Spencer Spencer (2)

1 DICE / CERIC - Droits International, Comparé et Européen / Centre d'études et de recherches internationales et communautaires (CERIC)
2 IDDRI - Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations Internationales

For many years, the issue of the legal form of the new climate agreement has hovered over the international negotiations. Countries have insisted on first discussing substance. Indeed, it is here that the main divergences remain. However, one year out from the Paris climate conference, it is time to open the discussion on the legal form of the final agreement. The issue of legal form is often reduced to the negotiation of a 'binding' or 'non-binding' agreement. The bindingness of an international environ-mental agreement however depends on multiple parameters. We propose four parameters to be considered: the form of the core agreement; the 'anchoring' of commitments; mechanisms for transparency, accountabil-ty and facilitation; and mechanisms for compliance. Parties should assess pros and cons of these options, and the agreement be optimised across all four.

Mots clés: droit international; environnement; négociations internationales; changements climatiques; climat; Protocole de Kyoto

Domaines: Droit

Sandrine Maljean-Dubois, Matthieu Wemaere, Thomas Spencer Spencer. A comprehensive assessment of options for the legal form of the Paris Climate Agreement OPTIMIZING THE WIDE SPECTRUM OF LEGAL OPTIONS. 2014. ⟨halshs-01091943⟩