Law Commons^™

Science Before Law: American Exceptionalism In The Kyoto Protocol And The Development Of A Global Norm Of Environmental Compliance, Elizabeth L. Chalecki

Elizabeth L Chalecki

This article will argue that a new norm of compliance with agreements is becoming customary with regard to the global environmental commons, particularly in the case of climate change and U.S. behavior towards the Kyoto Protocol. While the United States’ repudiation of its signature on the Protocol in 2001 was legal under the practice of traditional international law, this same practice is no longer sufficient in scope or in time to keep pace with the rapid advances in our scientific understanding of global environmental processes. Because every member of the international community can suffer significant harm from climate change, the …