10 Conclusion

Subject(s):

Climate change — Environmental disputes — Responsibility of states

This concluding chapter summarises the main points discussed in the previous chapters. It briefly maps out the long, winding road that has illustrated the formation and evolution of international climate change law. The chapter then provides some distinctive features of international climate change law — its managerial approach, its explicit articulation of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities as one of its guiding principles, its experimentation with legal form, and its polycentricity. To close, the chapter ponders on the effectiveness of international climate change law, as well as the difficulties in assessing the international response to climate change. Despite the optimism that pervaded international climate change law in 2015–2016, the chapter identifies other challenges, limitations, and areas of improvement in the current international climate change regime.