1. Seattle University School of Law
The North-South Divide in International Environmental Law: The Problem of Climate Change
Prof. Carmen G. Gonzalez
Seattle University School of Law
October 4, 2016

2. International Environmental Law and the Global South (Cambridge University Press, 2015)

3. Welcome to the Anthropocene
Human economic activity has exceeded ecological limits, including the following four planetary boundaries:
Climate change
Deforestation
Species extinction
Phosphorus and nitrogen runoff from agriculture
Source: Will Steffen et al, Planetary Boundaries: Guiding Human Development on a Changing Planet, 347 Science (2015)

4. Economic Inequality
20% of world’s populations consumes 80% of the planet’s resources and owns 95% of planet’s wealth
In 2015, just 62 individuals were as wealthy as the planet’s poorest 3.6 billion

5. Billions struggle to satisfy basic needs
Nearly 750 million lack clean drinking water
2.5 billion lack sanitation
Nearly 800 million suffer from chronic undernourishment
2.8 billion lack access to modern energy for cooking, lighting, transportation and heating

6. Climate Debt: polluter pays principle
Between 1880 and 1990, the global North generated
84 percent of the planet’s fossil fuel-based carbon dioxide emissions and
75 percent of deforestation-related carbon dioxide emissions.
The North’s current per capita emissions dwarf those of the South.

7. Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR)
1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Principle 7: “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 to sustainable development in view of the pressures their societies place on the global environment and of the technologies and financial resources they command.”

8. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Preamble notes “that the largest share of historical and current global emissions has originated in developed countries, that per capita emissions in developing countries are still relatively low and that the share of global emissions originating in developing countries will grow to meet their social and development needs.”

9. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Preamble acknowledges “that the global nature of climate change calls for the widest possible cooperation by all countries In accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and their social and economic conditions.”

10. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Article 3 (1): “The Parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind, on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Accordingly, the developed country Parties should take the lead in combating climate change and the adverse effects thereof.”

11. UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol
Differentiate between developed and developing countries
Obligate the North to take the lead in addressing climate change
Impose binding emission reduction obligations only on developed countries

12. Environmental Justice
Distributive justice
Procedural justice
Corrective justice
Social justice

13. Climate justice Distributive justice Procedural justice
Corrective justice
Social justice

14. Critique of North-South binary
Ignores diversity among “developing countries”
State-centric approach excludes vulnerable communities in both the North and the South

15. Indigenous peoples and climate change
Reside in vulnerable geographic locations
Cultural and spiritual ties to land
Legal connection to land
Climate solutions grounded in indigenous environmental knowledge

16. International law & indigenous peoples
International Labor Organization’s Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (ILO 169)
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)

17. Bridging the North South Divide
The Paris Agreement – more nuanced conception of common but differentiated responsibilities
Litigation – access to justice, public awareness, shift to renewable energy
Energy justice– win-win solutions to climate change mitigation and poverty alleviation

18. Common But Differentiated Responsibilities under the Paris Agreement
Preamble, Arts 2.2, 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, , 14.1, 15.2
Wording differs from UNFCCC: “principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in light of different national circumstances.”

19. Key elements of Paris Agreement
Objective: hold global average temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels; strive for 1.5°C
Mitigation: Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
Adaptation
Loss & Damage
Finance
Transparency, Stocktaking & Compliance

20. Litigation in the Inter-American Human Rights System by Indigenous Peoples
Petition by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2005)
Petition by the Arctic Athabaskan Peoples to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2013)

21. Potential Litigation by Small Island Developing States
Claims regarding ocean acidification under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
Efforts to obtain an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice “on the responsibilities of States under international law to ensure that activities carried out under their jurisdiction or control that emit greenhouse gases do not damage other States.”

22. Litigation in the United States
Litigation to retire coal-fired power plants, address waste and emissions, and prevent coal mining and coal exports
Public trust litigation to require state and federal government action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Potential litigation against the fossil fuel industry for knowingly deceiving the public and investors regarding climate change

23. Energy Poverty & Black Carbon
Indoor air pollution: 4 million premature deaths per year
Second most significant contributor to climate change
Deforestation
Cheap and immediate mitigation
Decentralized, renewable energy for the energy poor

24. Further reading
Paris Agreement:
U.S. climate litigation tracker:
Non-U.S. climate litigation tracker:

25. Further reading
International Environmental Law and the Global South (Cambridge University Press, 2015)
International Energy and Poverty: The Emerging Contours (Routledge, 2015)