ABSTRACT
It has been said that; ‘it would be difficult to find a topic beset with greater confusion and uncertainty’1 than state responsibility. International customary law on state responsibility for environmental harm is particularly uncertain. This chapter begins by considering evidence of the existence, scope and content of an international obligation (or primary rule) relevant to environmental harm. An ‘international obligation’ is, as will be seen, an essential element of state responsibility.2 For this reason the first part of this chapter deals with this element in some detail. This is followed by an examination of the consequences of breach of the obligation (secondary rules) within the context of a hypothetical case for its breach. A number of confusions, uncertainties and deficiencies in customary international law emerge, which pose particular problems for the greenhouse effect in particular, and for global environmental harm generally. The chapter concludes with an analysis of whether state responsibility is an appropriate international legal response to the greenhouse effect.
