International Environmental Law
Protecting the environment and preventing or mitigating climate change are goals that nations cannot fully achieve on their own. Environmental law thus requires a certain degree of international cooperation. While global institutions did not address environmental issues with any consistency before the Second World War, their inertia ended in the 1970s when the general public began to understand the challenges confronting the planet. The Stockholm Declaration of 1972 emerged from the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which also established the United Nations Environment Programme to manage these issues.
The 26 principles in the Stockholm Declaration have served as a foundation for international environmental law. Among its key pillars is the principle of cooperation, which holds that sovereign states must work together to develop global environmental strategies. In addition, Principle 21 provides that a state must prevent activities in its territory that harm the environment of other states. The Stockholm Declaration spurred some initial responses to environmental problems at the national level. A decade later, the World Commission on Environment and Development built on the achievements of Stockholm by introducing the concept of sustainable development. This involves seeking to meet present needs without preventing future generations from being able to meet their needs.
Pursuing Sustainable Development – The Earth Summit in Rio and Beyond
During the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, representatives of nations around the world signed conventions on biological diversity and climate change. These instruments mirrored the focus on sustainable development that arose in the wake of Stockholm. Moreover, the Earth Summit resulted in the Rio Declaration, which introduced the precautionary approach to environmental actions. Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration provides that a lack of full scientific certainty regarding a threat of serious or irreversible harm to the environment does not justify postponing cost-effective measures to prevent this harm. Principle 10 aims to provide every person with access to information, participation in the decision-making process, and access to justice in environmental matters. Regional conventions echoed this principle, which was seen as essential to sustainable development.
The goal of sustainable development continued to resonate after Rio in the Millennium Declaration of 2000, the Declaration on Sustainable Development of 2002, and the Rio + 20 Conference of 2012. Sustainable development even began to influence economic treaties, such as the Marrakech Agreement from which the World Trade Organization arose. However, this vision remains far from a reality. While many nations have responded to environmental challenges in legal and political ways, international conferences and global initiatives have not produced a response sufficient to achieve lasting solutions.
Fighting Climate Change - The Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement
Also known as global warming, climate change poses one of the main threats to the environment. It arises primarily from burning fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, which causes carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol marked a first attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, this document achieved little tangible success. It was replaced by the Paris Agreement nearly two decades later, which provided more specific obligations and protections. By acknowledging the impact of climate change on human rights, the Paris Agreement underscored the gravity of this environmental issue.
At the core of the Paris Agreement is a pledge to prevent the average temperature of the Earth from rising by two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Its signers aspired to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees or less. A key strength of the Paris Agreement lies in its near-universal acceptance. Since nearly every country has adopted it, this instrument may spur meaningful policy changes. For example, in February 2020, a British court struck down an airport runway project on the basis of non-compliance with the Paris Agreement.