Abstract
In December 2009 the Parties to the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will meet at the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) in Copenhagen to agree the fundamental principles of the legal regime that will apply post 2012. This chapter provides an overview of the complex regime established by the Convention, the processes leading up to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol and key implementation challenges it has experienced. It introduces some of the key processes and institutions and describes some of the key concepts that will be further developed in later chapters. It also discusses briefly the explosive growth of carbon trading and the challenges faced by the UNFCCC parties at Copenhagen.
Disciplines
Environmental Law | International Law
Date of this Version
October 2009
Recommended Citation
David Freestone, "The International Climate Change Legal and Institutional Framework: An Overview" (October 2009). University of New South Wales Faculty of Law Research Series 2009. Working Paper 39.
http://law.bepress.com/unswwps-flrps09/art39
Comments
This paper is the introductory chapter to David Freestone and Charlotte Streck (eds) Legal Aspects of Carbon Trading: Kyoto, Copenhagen and Beyond, to be published by Oxford University Press in December 2009. This paper may also be referenced as [2009] UNSWLRS 38.