The Implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change

'An invaluable and comprehensive overview of the legal regime established by the historic Paris Agreement that brings together a series of informed commentators who evaluate its effectiveness from a variety of perspectives mirroring diverse national circumstances - a major contribution, illuminating hopes while voicing concerns.'

Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law, Princeton University, USA

'In this exciting new book, Vesselin Popovski and colleagues take on the pressing, but as yet-understudied, question of "will the Paris Agreement work?" Over 20 expert scholars provide an impressively broad set of perspectives into whether the Paris Agreement’s adoption of a new bottom-up set of obligations and a much better-defined structure for monitoring and implementation will pay off. The book is particularly valuable because its chapters adopt both legal as well as ethical perspectives, derive valuable insights from the Kyoto Protocol experience, provide important details about all aspects of Paris’ implementation mechanisms, and clarify the many ways local conditions (in India, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the US) will shape the prospects for the Paris Agreement’s successful implementation. This book should be on the shelf of anyone interested in the fate of the Paris Agreement and of the planet.'

Ronald Mitchell, Professor of Political Science and Environmental Studies, University of Oregon, USA

'This timely and valuable work recognizes the irony in the international climate change regime's tendency to enforce strict compliance with procedural obligations in such matters as transparency in state reporting on mitigation actions while being utterly unable to create agreement on aggregate emission reductions sufficient to avoid dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Among the many important insights presented by the book's contributing authors is the suggestion that the Paris Agreement will not succeed in its aims unless the parties to the treaty develop a broadly conceived and strong compliance system that keeps them faithful to the Agreement's target of limiting warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius.'

Alexander Zahar, Asst Professor, Macquerie University, Australia, and Founder and editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Climate Law

'States' implementation of international law depends on a mixture of interests and goals (political, economic, social, and reputational), expectations, knowledge, and capability - as well as external pressures or incentives - that move governments towards making and upholding international agreements. The contributors to this volume offer rich, detailed and varied analyses of the problems and prospects for efforts to implement the Paris climate agreement, addressing what is surely one of the key global problems of our time.'

Prof. Alistair Edgar Professor, Department of Political Science, Wilfrid LaurierUniversity, Canada

'Climate change surpasses the ability of any one country to tackle on their own and requires global collective action. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the architectural framework for collective action on climate change and incisive insights into the mechanisms for facilitation of implementation of the Paris Agreement with compelling examples across levels of governance around the world.'

Maria Ivanova, Associate Professor of Global Governance, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA