Yusuke Kaide

Associate Professor, Public Policy School, Hokkaido University *Profile is at the time of the award.

2024Inamori Research GrantsHumanities & Sociology

researchmap

Research topics: Structures of International law for climate change——promises model and public interest model——

Keyword

Summary: My area of expertise is international law. I have been researching the issue of promises made by states to other states under international law, which appear frequently in the judgments of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and in states' perceptions of international law, but which have so far been overlooked in international law doctrines. And, in my opinion, the systematisation of international law doctrines has not progressed sufficiently as a result of the neglect of this important element. This awareness of the problem was gained through in-depth research into the law of state responsibility, a branch of international law that regulates all the legal consequences of violations of international law. The present study aims to analyse the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement on climate change from the perspective of their legal structure, based on my research.

Message

I am deeply grateful for the grant to the social sciences. I hope to make progress in my research with the grant and actively share the results with the overseas community.

Outline of Research Achievments

The Kyoto Protocol, one of the protocols under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, sets quantified carbon dioxide reduction targets for developed countries (Annex I countries) on a country-by-country basis for specific time periods. In addition to a facilitative branch, the protocol established an enforcement branch within the compliance committee. If a country failed to achieve its numerical targets during the first commitment period (2008-2012), 1.3 times the excess amount would be deducted from its emission allowance for the second commitment period (2013-2020). Furthermore, members of the enforcement branch are required to have legal expertise. According to the applicant’s analysis of the treaty negotiation process, the United States argued that the Kyoto Protocol is a bundle of bilateral commitments, and therefore, all other countries can hold violators accountable under the treaty for failing to meet numerical targets (including punitive accountability at 1.3 times the normal level, beyond standard responsibility). Consequently, the United States maintained that enforcement branch members must have legal backgrounds and that procedures in the enforcement branch should be adversarial and quasi-judicial in nature. The Kyoto Protocol may have been established in a way that accepted these U.S. arguments.

Find other recipients

Humanities & Sociology

Kentaro Kawasaki

The University of Tokyo