Does the prohibition on reservations contained in Article 26 of the Kyoto Protocol bar a state from rejecting certain amendments adopted by the Parties at COP15, in purported reliance on the right to reject amendments under Article 20(4) and/or Article 21(5)? The general rules on the making of reservations to treaties are set out in […]

1. Is “an amendment” to the KP a single change or can it be a number of changes taken as a package ? 2. Do changes under Article 20 and Article 21 necessarily have to be taken together as a package or can parties ratify them separately (or pick and choose)? 1. Please note that […]

In Doha, the KP Parties adopted amendments to the Kyoto Protocol relating to CP2 (the Doha Amendment). The Doha Amendment, once it has entered into force, will be binding under international law on the Parties that have deposited their instruments of acceptance in respect of the Doha Amendment. The Doha Amendment and the KP Decision […]

In September 2011, the President of Palau made a statement to the UN General Assembly in which he asked the General Assembly to “seek, on an urgent basis … an advisory opinion from the ICJ on the responsibilities of States under international law to ensure that activities carried out under their jurisdiction or control that […]

This briefing paper analyses the process and legality of Canada’s alleged pending withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol (“KP” or the “Protocol”) prior to the end of the first commitment period on 31 December 2012. After summarising the process which Canada would have to follow to withdraw from the KP, this briefing paper examines the limited …