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Interpreting States’ general obligations on climate change mitigation: A methodological review
Author(s) -
Mayer Benoit
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
review of european, comparative and international environmental law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 2050-0394
pISSN - 2050-0386
DOI - 10.1111/reel.12285
Subject(s) - obligation , harm , variety (cybernetics) , doctrine , political science , interpretation (philosophy) , climate change mitigation , international law , action (physics) , climate change , consistency (knowledge bases) , law and economics , state (computer science) , law , business , environmental planning , environmental resource management , economics , computer science , geography , ecology , physics , algorithm , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , biology , programming language
A variety of norms in international and domestic law imply that States have a general obligation to mitigate climate change (e.g. no‐harm principle, obligation to protection of human rights, public trust doctrine). Yet a major methodological difficulty is faced when interpreting this general mitigation obligation: how to determine the requisite level of mitigation action? This article identifies and discusses various methods for the interpretation of States’ general mitigation obligations in light of domestic cases. On the one hand, a top‐down approach seeks to determine a State's requisite mitigation action in the light of a global objective on climate change mitigation and of effort‐sharing criteria. On the other hand, bottom‐up methods put emphasis on the demand for internal consistency, on the obligation for a State not to downplay its contribution to environmental impacts unfolding beyond its territory, and on various emerging transnational standards. The article argues that the top‐down and bottom‐up approaches enable a sound interpretation of States’ general mitigation obligations especially when these approaches are used in combination.