The Normative Status of Climate Change Obligations under International Law: ‘Yesterday’s good enough has become today’s unacceptable’

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the JURI Committee, investigates the normative status of legal commitments of States in the field of international climate law. It concludes that the due diligence obligations of States to realize their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) qualifies as a norm of general international law, but at the moment not as a peremptory norm. It concludes that the legal impact of this norm currently lies in the sphere of interpretation and harmonization of existing international law rather than invalidation of conflicting rules.