ABSTRACT
The fact that anthropogenic climate change is occurring is no longer disputed (IPCC, 2007) and, if the change is dangerous, its avoidance is the agreed ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as stated in its Article 2. Moreover, avoiding extremely dangerous climate change – climate change that carries a risk of passing some tipping point beyond which progress to climatically induced disaster is irreversible – is the first priority, as is called for by Article 3.3. This obliges parties that perceive such a threat to take cost-effective action without delay on account of scientific uncertainty. Timeconsuming consensus by the Conference of the Parties, as is the case with the Kyoto Protocol (and with Article 4.2 in the Convention, which provides the legal basis for the Protocol), is not needed under Article 3.3 of the UNFCCC.
