The UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol:The Chalenges of Trying to Clean One’s Own Nest

In the Tragedy of the Commons Hardin suggested that with respect to global commons we are trapped in a vicious circle where calculations of utility pushes us to keep polluting our own nest. This taken on a global scale has led to concerns about climate change and a realization that measures need to be taken to mitigate or adapt to its deleterious effects. The present Chapter briefly examines the history so far of the negotiations towards adopting climate change treaties, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of said documents. It then highlights the three main challenges in climate change regulation: the systemic (designing of international climate policy); the functional (normativity of COP/MOP decisions); and the adjudicative (application of state responsibility in climate change and invocation of the latter’s rules in international/domestic litigation)