From Kyoto to Paris: Problematic route of state responsibility for climate change

Abstract

Anthropogenic climate change is one of the effects of carbon dioxide emissions from the use of fossil fuels. The Climate Change International Legal Regime consisting of primary rules set out in international treaties has been established to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Due to the lack of special secondary rules in this regime, a violation of its primary rules leads to applying the general rules of state responsibility in DARSIWA. The question is whether these general rules are compelling enough. The article shows that the attribution of GHG emissions to states is complex due to the lack of a specific causal relationship and diversity of GHG emitters. In addition, there is no absolute and comprehensive obligation for GHG emission under the climate change legal regime, which could hold the emitting state responsible. In addition, assuming the compensation as an inherent consequence of responsibility, state accountability rules cannot effectively deal with climate change because of the cumulative nature of damages and the discarding of compensation from the relevant treaties, particularly from the Paris Agreement. Therefore, in addition to the legal liability of states, other dimension of their responsibility including ethical responsibility should also be considered as much as possible.