Abstract:
Global climate change should be a concern of all mankind. If left unmitigated the
effects will be catastrophic for continued life on Earth. International efforts through the
climate change regime seek to address global climate change. The principle of
‘common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities’ (CBDRRC) is
fundamental to State engagement in this regard. The principle, and its implementation,
recognises differences between States in respect of their responsibilities to address
climate change as well as their capacities to do so. Providing climate change mitigation
measures in the international civil aviation sector proved to be an unanswerable
conundrum for the climate change regime due to difficulties in deciding on appropriate
emissions allocation. The responsibility for climate change efforts in the international
civil aviation sector was transferred from the climate change regime to the International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for resolution. Given the already established
regulatory role in international aviation, the decision to do so seems apt. This is,
perhaps, an oversimplification of a complex legal environment. ICAO was not founded
with environmental considerations as a core concern and there are fundamental
clashes between the legal framework in international civil aviation and CBDRRC, the
latter having also undergone a dramatic evolution since the referral to ICAO. ICAO
has recently introduced its regulatory response to the call of the climate change
regime, the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation
(CORSIA). This thesis will illustrate the evolution of the principle of common but
differentiated responsibilities to arrive at its contemporary interpretation and discuss
the measures delivered by ICAO to determine whether they accord with the principle
of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities’.
