Implementing Climate Change Policy: From Engagement to Enforcement? (Contemporary Environmental Law and Policy)

Over a time lapse of only about 170 years, the trajectory of greenhouse gas (GHG) in the atmosphere has exceeded the 1.5°C security level established in the Paris Agreement. States and international organisations have thus far addressed global warming primarily by means of policy-making and law-making–that is, from the standpoint of ‘primary’ rules, but convergence is still limited. Climate science indeed warns that the timely achievement of carbon neutrality by 2050 currently necessitates drastic cuts in GHG emissions on a yearly basis. Can therefore a progressive implementation of ‘secondary’ norms, that is, sanctions and ensuing enforcement procedures, meaningfully contribute to fostering a fast transition to a low-carbon economy based on renewables and, possibly, nuclear energy and further innovative technologies, including corresponding adaptation measures? ‘Hard’ and ‘soft’ mechanisms, both ‘public’ and ‘private’ in nature, whereby enforceable sanctions integrate goal setting, pledges and a variety of behavioural incentives, disclose a fragmented ‘enforcement deficit’, which compels case-by-case decentralised solutions, whereby the threshold is by now set at a 2°C temperature increase above pre-industrial levels, with fast-approaching tipping points.

Ottavio Quirico holds a Ph.D. in Law and a Master in International Relations from the University of Social Sciences of Toulouse. He is a professor and researcher at Perugia University for Foreigners, University of New England, ANU Centre for European Studies and European University Institute. He has been, inter alia, a Marie Curie Fellow at Université Panthéon-Assas, has acted as a consultant to the United Nations, and has taught and published extensively on international law and EU law and politics and climate change.

Walter F. Baber holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina and a Juris Doctorate from the University of San Diego. He is a professor in the Environmental Sciences and Policy Program at the Graduate Center for Public Policy and Administration at California State University, Long Beach. He is, inter alia, a member of the Lead Faculty Group of the Earth System Governance Project and has an extensive background in international environmental research and teaching.

Michael A. Adams hold degrees in economics and law from University College London. He is a Professor of Corporate Law and Governance at the University of New England, Law School. He specialises in international corporate governance, financial services, information governance, consumer protection (greenwash) and legal technology, and has taught and published extensively in these areas.