Global EU climate action and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities

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dc.contributor.authorMARIN DURAN, Gracia
dc.contributor.authorSCOTT, Joanne
dc.date.accessioned2025-06-02T09:07:26Z
dc.date.available2025-06-02T09:07:26Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.descriptionPublished online: 30 July 2024
dc.description.abstractGracia Marin-Duran and Joanne Scott examine two instances of global EU climate action which extend the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG emissions) which are generated outside of the territory of EU Member States. The first is the EU Regulation establishing a carbon border tax adjustment mechanisms (CBAM) and the second is the EU Directive including maritime emissions within the scope of the ETS. Marin-Durán and Scott appraise these measures from the point of view of the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities that is enshrined in the United Nations Framework Agreement on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. They argue that this principle is legally relevant in the context of EU global climate action and analyse when the principle should be taken into account by the EU, particularly in relation to extraterritorial GHG emissions that may sometimes fall within the primary jurisdiction of other States. In so doing, they rely on a distinction between first-order and second-order climate responsibilities that was put forward in Simon Caney’s work. The chapter argues that the EU has acted consistently with the CBDR-RC principle in relation to international shipping emissions. This is because the mode of apportioning such emissions between states has not been settled at the international level and the EU has acted to fill a ‘system boundary gap’. Moreover, the EU’s approach, which includes 50 per cent of emissions of voyages arriving and departing from EU ports, satisfies what Marin-Duran and Scott characterise as the ‘replication test’. If other countries were to emulate the EU’s approach, no double-counting of GHG emissions would arise. However, Marin-Duran and Scott caution that if the EU were to decide in the future to include a greater proportion of shipping emissions in its ETS, the principle of CBDR-RC would be relevant and may necessitate the differential treatment of emissions which fall within the first-order responsibility of States which have lower levels of responsibility for causing climate change and lower capabilities when it comes to addressing its causes and effects. By contrast, Marín-Durán and Scott argue that the EU has acted inconsistently with the principle of CBDR-RC in relation to CBAM. Here, the EU is exercising second-order climate responsibilities and ought, therefore, to take this principle in to account. In view of this, the authors propose two adjustments to the design of this measure to bring it in to line with this principle. The first is an exemption for Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States in order to recognise their special status under Article 4.6 of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The second is that the EU should ensure that CBAM-generated revenue be used to support decarbonisation efforts in other affected developing countries.
dc.identifier.citationKenneth A. ARMSTRONG, Joanne SCOTT and Anne THIES (eds), EU external relations and the power of law : liber amicorum in honour of Marise Cremona, Oxford : Hart Publishing, 2024, pp. 61–186
dc.identifier.doi10.5040/9781509940981.0014
dc.identifier.isbn9781509940950
dc.identifier.isbn9781509940967
dc.identifier.isbn9781509940974
dc.identifier.isbn9781509940981
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1814/92776
dc.language.isoen
dc.orcid.putcode1814/80949:185187384
dc.orcid.putcode1814/80929:185187395
dc.publisherHart Publishing
dc.titleGlobal EU climate action and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities
dc.typeContribution to book
dspace.entity.typePublication
person.identifier.orcid0000-0002-8161-3129
person.identifier.orcid0000-0002-7192-1937
person.identifier.other29607
person.identifier.other29283
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relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscoveryb5a56b25-fa23-49b0-b273-4e7e3c75d699
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