ABSTRACT
Given the prominence of the concept of joint implementation (JI) during the five and a half years between the signing of the Framework Convention on Climate Change in June 1992 and the third Conference of the Parties in December 1997, it is surprising at first sight to find that the Kyoto Protocol contains no explicit reference to ‘joint implementation’ at all. Nor does it mention the phrase ‘activities implemented jointly’. This chapter examines the political and institutional reasons behind these apparently trivial linguistic anomalies. It discusses, in particular, the relationship between JI and the concept of emissions trading, and set out a characterization of JI which reveals a number of different operational forms for flexibility mechanisms. The chapter concludes by drawing some important lessons about the appropriate institutionalization of these concepts within the context of global climate policy.
