This comprehensive Research Handbook sets out a systematic analysis of the Paris Agreement taking into account developments since it entered into force in 2016. It explores the treaty’s capacity, as an instrument of international law, to compel state action to address the universal threat of climate change.

Contents: 1 Optimism and pessimism about the Paris Agreement 1 Alexander Zahar 2 Operational readiness of the Paris Agreement’s institutional framework 21 Christoph Schwarte and Olivia Tattarletti 3 The legal principles of the Paris Agreement: familiarity in novelty 43 Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli and Mara Wendebourg 4 ‘Collective’ state obligation to achieve the objective of the Paris Agreement: can it bridge the gap between collective ambition and individual state action? 60 Niklas S. Reetz and Sandrine Maljean-Dubois 5 A legal standard for state mitigation efforts: is national discretion bound to shrink over time? 82 Christopher Campbell-Duruflé 6 The Paris Agreement’s facilitative approach: a compliance-inducing design? 104 Imogen Forster and Anna Huggins 7 Ambition-raising and ambition-reducing features of the Paris Agreement 126 Rueanna Haynes and Lisa Benjamin 8 The Paris Agreement’s ‘nationally determined contribution’: law and practice 143 Alexander Zahar 9 The Paris Agreement’s contribution to the development of the law on adaptation 167 Lauren Nishimura 10 The use of elements of the Paris Agreement and IPCC reports in climate litigation 195 Meinhard Doelle, with Sara Seck and Rose Klug 11 Is the Paris Agreement a human rights treaty? 215 Benoit Mayer 12 The market mechanisms of the Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol: a legal comparison 240 Géraud de Lassus St-Geniès 13 Constituent norms of the enhanced transparency framework 262 Daria Shapovalova 14 The Paris Agreement’s enhanced transparency framework: state practices and compliance challenges 279 Hao Zhang 15 Governing international climate finance and investment: the Paris Agreement and related international and transnational mechanisms 296 David Rossati and Alexander Zahar 16 The European Union’s implementation of the Paris Agreement 323 Gareth Davies 17 Large-scale carbon dioxide removal under the Paris Agreement: toward a principled approach 343 Neil Craik 18 Ensuring mutual supportiveness of the Paris Agreement with other multilateral environmental agreements: a focus on ocean-based climate action 362 Elisa Morgera and Mitchell Lennan 19 Social movements and the Paris Agreement: an imperfect vehicle for incremental change? 381 Cinnamon P. Carlarne and Keith H. Hirokawa 20 Beyond the Paris Agreement: need for new thinking to tackle the climate crisis 403 Philippe Cullet