ABSTRACT
This chapter discuss whether the human rights regime imposes specific obligations on states with regard to climate change mitigation and adaptation. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines mitigation as human intervention to reduce the sources of greenhouse gases (GHGs) or enhance their sinks. Mitigation options will depend on each sector that produces GHGs: energy, transportation, agriculture, industry and manufacturing, waste generation, land use change, and commercial and residential. The Kyoto Protocol adopts four flexibility mechanisms for states to achieve the emission reduction required under it: joint implementation, the bubble, emission trading and the clean development mechanism (CDM). A CDM Policy Dialog was launched at the UN Climate Change Conference held in Durban in 2011, with the objective of making recommendations on how best to position the CDM to respond to climate change. The review of the CDM Modalities and Procedures is an important opportunity for the CDM to integrate human rights protections into its governing policies and procedures.
