Ninety Days

... from the day Russia deposits its ratification with the UN and the Kyoto Protocol (KP) will enter into force (see Art. 25(1) KP). The Russian Parliament, the Duma, just has ratified the treaty which was concluded in 1997. After the U.S. had disappointed the rest of the world with a clear No, everybody courted Russia’s favor. Finally, they've got it (better not ask what the Russians were promised behind closed doors!). Now the required quorum of  signatories accounting for more than 55% of the total carbon dioxide emissions in the reference period (the year 1990) is met; Russia alone causing 17.4% of the emissions of all industrialized countries. That is great news for another type of commons. Not the information commons we usually blog about. But another one: the air we breathe. The KP represents nothing less than a milestone in climate policy because it sets out absolute caps for the emissions of certain greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide the best known one. Unlike former commitments the KP is not flawed with a caveat linking reduction goals to economic (under-)performance of the participating states. Each member has to make sure that emissions must not exceed the assigned absolute amounts. Parties can achieve compliance by various means. One of the so-called flexible mechanisms is the trading of emission rights. On this basis the EU has already created a legal framework for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community when it adopted directive 2003/87/EC last year. Since most of the EC member states have duely transposed the directive into national law, trading can start as soon as of January 1, 2005. Integrating the new market-based instrument of emission trading into "classical" environmental law which is rooted in administrative law raises many exciting legal problems. So it was quite a challenge to join a team who has written the very first legal commentary on the German statute (the "TEHG"). Even given the fact that the EC has regarded the obligations of the KP as binding anyway, I am happy to see that from now on it isn't just a matter of understanding but a binding piece of international environmental law - a not so insignificant one!