This book is a guide to the rapid developments in international law in one of the most challenging and important areas of global concern: climate change. The climate system is the result of complex and dynamic interactions between the Earth's atmosphere, biosphere and oceans which human activities are beginning to throw out of balance. Atmospheric emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) have risen considerably due to fossil fuel burning, deforestation, livestock farming and other human activities. If current trends continue the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will double by the end of the century. The scientific community has warned of the potentially serious effects of climate variability caused by increased concentrations. ‘Business-as-usual’ scenarios predict a rate of increase in global mean temperatures greater than that seen over the past 10,000 years. Resultant climate impacts include sea level rise, changes in agricultural yields, forest cover and water resources and an increase in extreme events, such as storms, cyclones, landslides and floods.

These impacts will affect the environmental, social and vital economic interests of all states and have profound consequences for virtually every aspect of human society. The atmosphere knows no boundaries. Acting alone, no country can hope to arrest climate change, but collective action by sovereign states with disparate socio-economic and environmental circumstances is difficult. Yet environmental issues that require global cooperation challenge traditional paradigms of international law-making which are underpinned by concepts of state responsibility, sovereign equality and the paramountcy of state consent.