de Cendra de Larragán, Javier --- "Liability of Member States and the EU in View of the International Climate Change Framework: Between Solidarity and Responsibility" [2011] ELECD 262; in Faure, Michael; Peeters, Marjan (eds), "Climate Change Liability" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Climate Change Liability

Editor(s): Faure, Michael; Peeters, Marjan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849802864

Section: Chapter 4

Section Title: Liability of Member States and the EU in View of the International Climate Change Framework: Between Solidarity and Responsibility

Author(s): de Cendra de Larragán, Javier

Number of pages: 35

Extract:

4. Liability of Member States and
the EU in view of the international
climate change framework: between
solidarity and responsibility1
Javier de Cendra de Larragán

1. INTRODUCTION

The notion of `burden sharing' (more recently referred to as `effort
sharing'2) has been at the core of EU climate change (mitigation) policy
since its inception.3 This notion expresses the idea that both the EU and
its Member States have a certain unity of purpose in combating climate
change and have thus decided to partake in the efforts which are necessary
to mitigate GHG emissions. The notion is also premised on the belief that
it is more cost-effective to act together than independently, and that it is
to the advantage of the EU to speak with one voice at international level.
The European Community (EC) followed this idea when negotiating the
Kyoto Protocol, by adopting a single mitigation target that would be later
redistributed among its Member States.4 With the advantages derived
from sharing the burden of mitigation comes also the responsibility to
ensure compliance with legal obligations derived from it under interna-
tional and EC law.
Moreover, the notion of burden sharing is not a static one, as will be
shown in this chapter; on the contrary, it has evolved in order to reflect the
developments that have taken place in climate change science and climate
change policy since the adoption of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. The
negotiations ...