China and the Challenge of Global Climate Change: Law and Policy Hanenburg-Yntema Fonds – Leuven - 25 March 2011

Prof Geert Van CalsterLeuven law /King’s College /Monash

gavc@law.kuleuven.be

Overview of Presentation

• Intro• Sovereignty: the starting point (and

nec plus ultra?) of international environmental law

• CBDR, and links to Sustainable development

• China - internal

Intro

• There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies, and statistics– The Rt.Hon. Benjamin Disraeli [?] Sir

Charles Wentworth Dilke [?]

Sovereignty

• Principle 2 of the Rio Declaration:– States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United

Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental and developmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits

of jurisdiction.

• 'Pollution knows no borders'?

• 'Common concern of mankind' [cf 'Common heritage of mankind' or 'global commons']: a new legal principle or blurb?

CBDR, and links to SD

• Principle 7 Rio Declaration:– States shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnership to

conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth's ecosystem. In view of the different contributions to global environmental degradation, States have common but differentiated responsibilities. The developed countries acknowledge the responsibility that they bear in the international pursuit of sustainable development in view of the pressures their societies place on the global environment and of the technologies and financial resources they command.

CBDR: Historic responsibility

CBDR: Current responsibility

Source: Guardian and US EIA, 2009 data

• Links to 'sustainable development', which effectively combines trade and economic development with its two best-known negative externalities: environment, and social protection

• If one country does not internalise these, can we do it for them? See WTO /trade issues

China - Internal

China - Internal

• From command and control via 'market-based' (including environmental agreements, benchmarking, top runner initiatives) to somewhere in the middle?

Conclusion

China and the Challenge of Global Climate Change: Law and Policy Hanenburg-Yntema Fonds – Leuven - 25 March 2011

Prof Geert Van CalsterLeuven law /King’s College /Monash

gavc@law.kuleuven.be