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Environmental Realpolitik: Joint Implementation And Climate Change, Thomas C. Heller

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Professor Heller's article discusses why there has been little

progress after the Rio Earth Summit in developing the Framework

Convention on Climate Change. He argues that, beyond the scientific

uncertainties about climate change and its economic impacts,

agreement on the legal structure of a comprehensive regime has been

hampered by institutional factors. These include: the political

discounting of damage to future populations, the diverse risks of

global warming in different regions, and the distrust in many nations

with market instruments, like taxes or tradable permits, that are

favored by many industrial nations dependent on fossil fuels.

Resolving these problems will …