Law Commons^™

Comma But Differentiated Responsibilities: Punctuation And 30 Other Ways Negotiators Have Resolved Issues In The International Climate Change Regime, Susan Biniaz

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

International climate change negotiations have a long history of being contentious, and much has been written about the grand trade-offs that have allowed countries to reach agreement. Issues have often involved, for example, the level of ambition, differentiated treatment of Parties, and various forms of financial assistance to developing countries.

Lesser known are the smaller, largely language-based tools negotiators have used to resolve differences, sometimes finding a solution as subtle as a shift in the placement of a comma. These tools have operated in different ways. Some, such as deliberate imprecision or postponement, have “resolved” an issue by sidestepping it …

Forced Migration After Paris Cop21: Evaluating The "Climate Change Displacement Coordination Facility", Phillip Dane Warren

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Climate change represents, perhaps, the greatest challenge of the twenty-first century. As temperatures and sea levels rise, governments around the world will face massive and unprecedented human displacement that international law currently has no mechanism to address. While estimates vary, the scope of the migration crisis that the world will face in the coming decades is startling. In addition to losing their homes, climate change migrants, under current law, will encounter a refugee system governed by a decades-old Refugee Convention that offers neither protection nor the right to resettle in a more habitable place. Armed with the most recent developments …

Climate Change And Human Trafficking After The Paris Climate Agreement, Michael Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Climate change is a major contributor to migration and displacement. Persistent drought forced as many as 1.5 million Syrian farmers to move to overcrowded cities, contributing to social turmoil and ultimately a civil war that drove hundreds of thousands of people to attempt to cross the Mediterranean into Europe. Drought also worsened refugee crises in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and other parts of the continent. Climate change can cause displacement in multiple ways. No reliable estimates exist of the number of people who will be displaced partly or wholly by climate change, due to uncertainties concerning the rate …

Three Major Developments In International Climate Change Law, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan

Faculty Scholarship

The past month has seen a remarkable set of developments at the international level in controlling greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – the entry into force of the Paris Climate Agreement, and major new agreements on controlling hydrofluorocarbon emissions and pollution from airplanes. The stunning election of Donald Trump on Tuesday casts the future of some but not all of these efforts into doubt, however.

Effect Of The Paris Climate Agreement On U.S. Businesses, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan

Faculty Scholarship

In December, 195 countries convened in Paris for the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. To the surprise and delight of most of the participants, the conference ended in consensus among all the participants on a document, the Paris Agreement, that will be opened for signature on April 22, 2016. President Barack Obama has indicated that the United States will sign it. (Co-author Michael Gerrard participated in the conference.)

Sadly, The Paris Agreement Isn't Nearly Enough, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Climate change is a major contributor to migration and displacement. Persistent drought forced as many as 1.5 million Syrian farmers to move to overcrowded cities, contributing to social turmoil and ultimately a civil war that drove hundreds of thousands of people to attempt to cross the Mediterranean into Europe. Drought also worsened refugee crises in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and other parts of the continent.