The distribution of rights and responsibilities under international climate change law: an examination of the equity approach advanced by African states

Babatunde, Elkanah Oluwapelumi

The distribution of rights and responsibilities under international climate change law: an examination of the equity approach advanced by African states

Doctoral Thesis

2022

Abstract

Mapping global climate change negotiations from 1992 to 2015, this thesis set out to examine how African states have sought to interpret the principle of equity within international climate change negotiations and the extent to which climate change treaties, from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to the Paris Agreement, have reflected these notions of equity. The thesis examined the inequality in the volume of country emissions, and the financial and technological ability of different state parties to undertake climate change action and the implication of these inequalities on the distribution of rights and responsibilities within climate change treaties. This thesis has shown that in various negotiations pertaining to the development of climate change treaties including the Paris Agreement, African states have consistently advanced arguments about equity that reflect principles of distributive and restorative justice. In advancing this interpretation of equity, African states have argued that they should be excluded from onerous legal obligations under these treaties so that climate change action does not impede the realisation of their developmental objectives. For them to bear such responsibilities, they have been arguing, their fulfilment can only be guaranteed if there is adequate financial and technological support from developed states. This thesis shows that there is credibility in the arguments. First, science has shown that developed states are responsible for the majority of the global emissions of greenhouse gas. It, therefore, follows that they should bear primary responsibility for addressing the consequences of such emissions. Secondly, developed states are better equipped with the finances and technology necessary for tackling climate change. To place the financial and technological responsibility for climate change on African states would be to place on them an unfair burden, which, in any case, is impossible to be borne by them; lex non cogit ad impossibilia. The thesis argued, however, that the differentiation of rights and responsibilities with respect to climate change cannot apply indefinitely. There must be a ‘cut-off' point. Developed states cannot be held perpetually liable for global emissions. As developed states' emissions decline and that of African states and other developing states increase, the distribution of rights and responsibilities must reflect this change. The current differentiation should only apply as a transitional window for developed states to reduce their emissions and for African states to pursue development and increase their capacity to respond to climate change and its challenges. v In this transitional period, the necessary climate technologies must be viewed as global public goods from which no state should be excluded.

Keywords

public law

Reference:

Collections

PhD / Doctoral

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