Climate change and the Kyoto Protocol. The role of institutions and instruments to control global change

Book abstract:

The Kyoto Protocol is potentially a major step forward in the campaign to establish an effective governance to mitigate climate change. The campaign already faces serious and undermining challenges, not least the one posed by the United States' withdrawal from the protocol. This emphasises the central argument of this book - that the internationally working instruments are inseparably linked to the domestic policies of nation states towards climate change.
The first part of the book examines the design and functioning of the flexibility mechanisms contained in the Kyoto Protocol and explores such issues as carbon trading in Europe, the legal feasibility of emissions trading and the best arrangements for promotion of energy from renewable sources. Part two addresses the situation after Kyoto in such areas as global burden sharing of greenhouse gas reductions, the Dutch energy transition, modulating dynamics in transport for climate protection and the institutional change in Europe.
The work will interest economists, political and social scientists, lawyers, practitioners and decision-makers involved with climate change policy and international environmental law.
Michael Faure is Professor of Comparative and International Environmental Law at the University of Maastricht, Joyeeta Gupta is at the Free University, Amsterdam and Andries Nentjes is at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands.