Issue 7, 2016

Aspects of science and technology in support of legal and policy frameworks associated with a global carbon emissions-control regime

Abstract

The delegates to COP21 in Paris, in conjunction with nationally formulated commitments and pledges, resolved that countries should take actions to “hold the increase in global temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels” and to achieve “a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removal by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century”. This resolution for action suggests a step towards a global carbon emissions-control regime which, due to regional variabilities and remaining uncertainties as to the exact effects of atmospheric CO2 concentrations, must be considered within the purview of risk management. In this Opinion, four topics are discussed that intertwine science, technology, legal, and policy issues critical to the implementation of any global carbon emissions-control regime: (i) What to regulate and at what levels; (ii) Regulating short-term versus long-term emissions; (iii) Validation of compliance in a regulated global emissions regime; and, (iv) Legal aspects of geoengineering.

Graphical abstract: Aspects of science and technology in support of legal and policy frameworks associated with a global carbon emissions-control regime

Article information

Article type
Opinion
Submitted
27 Jan 2016
Accepted
02 Jun 2016
First published
02 Jun 2016
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Energy Environ. Sci., 2016,9, 2172-2176

Aspects of science and technology in support of legal and policy frameworks associated with a global carbon emissions-control regime

N. S. Lewis, Energy Environ. Sci., 2016, 9, 2172 DOI: 10.1039/C6EE00272B

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