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CLIMATE CHANGE AND LEGAL FRAME WORKS

INTRODUCTION
Climate change is a change in the pattern of weather, and
related changes in oceans, land surfaces and ice sheets,
occurring over time scales of decades or longer ( Australian
Academy of Science)
Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather
patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and
global climates. These changes have a broad range of
observed effects that are synonymous with the term. (NASA)

Legal instruments on climatic change

The important legal instruments relating to climatic changes
are as follows:

The United Nations Legal Instruments

1. The United Nations Framework Convention on

Climatic Change (UNFCC) / UN Climate Convention
2. Paris Agreement
3. Kyoto Protocol
Others:

1. Inter-Governmental Panel on Climatic Change (IPCC)

2. G8 and G20
3. Forum of Major Economies on Climate and Energy
(MEF)
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4. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and

Development (OECD)
5. International Energy Agency (IEA)

The United Nations Framework on Climatic Change

(UNFCC) or UN Climate Convention:
In 1992, Earth Summit was held, in which 154 member states
attended at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. At the same time, the
United Nations Organisation had prepared a draft on climate
changes, which was called “The United Nations Convention
of Framework on Climate Change” (UNFCC). This
convention is also known as “Convention on Framework of
Climate Change” (CFCC) or “Convention on Climate
Change” (CCC). It is an international environmental treaty.
This Convention consists of 23 Articles and 154 Nations
signed this convention. As of 2020, there are 197 member
states to this convention and India became a party to this
convention in the year 1992.
OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of the UNFCC are enumerated under
Article 2 of the Convention as follows:
“To stabilise the concentration of GHG’s in the
atmosphere at a level which would prevent the
interference of anthropogenic activities with the system of
climate where the level must be achieved by ensuring the
following conditions:
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 To allow the development of economy to follow in a

sustainable manner;
 To permit the ecosystems to accommodate naturally to
the change of climate;
 To confirm that the production of food is not threatened”.
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is also known as ‘The Kyoto
Environmental Summit on Global Warming’.
The Kyoto Protocol is a multinational treaty which broadens
the UNFCC. It mandates the member states to lower the
emissions of greenhouse gas mentioned in Part-I and to
reduce the level of global warming, mentioned in Part-II.
The Protocol was came into force on 2005. At present the
Protocol consists of 192 member states. India ratified the
Kyoto Protocol 1997 and accordingly several Acts including
“The Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control)
Rules, 1997”.
There are only six greenhouse gases to which this
Protocol applies. They are as follows:
1. Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)
2. Methane (CH4)
3. Hydrofurocarbons (HFCs)
4. Carbon dioxide (CO2)

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5. Nitrous Oxide (N2O)

Objective:
The main objective of the Kyoto Protocol is given under
Article 2 that is, “to minimize the level of global warming
and to reduce the concentration of GHG’s in the atmosphere
of globe”.
Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement is established under the UNFCC. The
agreement was entered into force in the year 2016. At present,
nearly 190 parties to the UNFCC are the parties to the Paris
Agreement. India is one among the parties to this agreement
where it is the country followed by China to emit the CO2
among the other UNFCC Members.
The following are the main issues dealt by the Paris
Agreement:
1. Finance
2. Adaptation
3. Mitigation of Climate Change
OBJECTIVES
 To maintain the global average temperature below the
level of 2ºC (3.6ºC) above the pre-industrial levels and to
continue the activities to restrict the increase to 1.5ºC
(2.7ºF);

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 To raise the parties’ ability to accommodate to the

adverse effects of the change of climate;
 To constitute the finance which flows consistently to the
emissions of low greenhouse gas and development of
climatic resilience.
Intergovernmental Panel On Climatic Change (IPCC):
Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change was established
for a period of two years that is from 1990 to 1992. The IPCC
published the following evidence about the climatic change,
greenhouse effect and recent change in global temperature.
1. Earth temperature has changed during geological times
(Glacial and interglacial periods).
2. The mean average temperature fluctuation by 0.5ºC to
1ºC for 100 to 200 year period (during the past 10,000
years of current inter-glacial period).
3. There is a stable climate for thousands of years. So, the
improvement of agriculture and increased population
prevail.
4. Small change in climate disturbs agriculture and leads to
migration of animals.
5. Anthropogenic activities increase greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere and increase the average global
temperature upsetting hydrological cycle which results in
the following:

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1. Floods and droughts.

2. Sea level rise.
3. Change in agriculture.
4. Famines and death of men and livestock.
5. In polar regions, 2 to 3 times more warming than the
global average.
6. In tropics, warming may be only 50 to 100% on an
average.
7. Increased warming at polar-regions reduces thermal
gradient between the equator and high latitude regions by
decreasing the energy available to the heat engine which
drives global weather machine.
8. Temperature increases from 1.5ºC to 4.5ºC intensifying
hydrological cycle by 5 to 10% resulting in distributed
rainfall, wetter or drier areas, more evapotranspiration
and annual water deficit.
G8 and G20:
G8 summit was held at, Germany in June, 2007. The
G8 countries agreed to address four issues regarding climate
change. They are:
1. Promoting and protecting innovation.
2. Enhancing freedom of investment through an open
investment environment.

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3. Defining common responsibilities for development.

4. Sharing knowledge for improving energy efficiency and
technology co-operation with the aim to contribute to
reducing Carbon-di-oxide (CO2) emissions.
The G20 is a multinational forum for the governors of central
banks and governments. The main purpose of the G20 is to
create cooperation between the most important developing
and industrialised economies to talk about the key issues in
the global economy.
Forum of major economies on energy and climate:
This Forum was introduced in the year 2009. India is one
among the major economies in this forum. The main objective
for the launch of this forum was to increase the clean energy
supply and to mitigate the emissions of GHG’s.
Organisation for economic cooperation and development:
The OECD was formed in the year 1961. It is an inter-
governmental economic organisation. The vital role played by
the OECD is to speak about the environmental problems
and the management of natural resources in a sustainable
manner.
International Energy Agency (IEA):
The IEA is an intergovernmental organisation formed in the
year 1974 under the framework of OECD. The role of IEA is
to answer for the physical disruptions of the oil supply and to

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provide any information relating to the International Oil

Markets and other sectors of energy.
Indian legislations regulating the climate change
The Indian legislations combating the change of climate can
be categorised under two heads, namely:
1. During the British Regime
2. During the Post-Independence Era
During the British regime
The following enactments were came into force in order to
regulate the climatic changes:
1. The Wild Birds and Animals Protection Act, 1912
2. The Factories Act, 1897
3. The Shore Nuisance (Bombay and Kolkata) Act, 1853
4. The Bengal Smoke Nuisance Act, 1905
5. The Fisheries Act, 1897
6. The Indian Penal Code, 1860
7. The Bombay Smoke Nuisance Act, 1912
8. The Indian Easements Act, 1882
During the post-independence era
The following statutes were enacted after the independence
for the regulation of climatic changes:

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1. The Wild Life Protection Act, 1972

2. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,
1974
3. The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
4. The Forest Conservation Act, 1980
5. The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988
6. The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
7. The Atomic Energy Act, 1982
8. The National Environment Appellate Authority Act,
1997
9. The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991
10. Environment Impact Assessment (EIA)
Notifications
Causes of climatic change
The main cause of the recent climatic change is release of
greenhouse gases, particularly carbon-di-oxide (CO2) and
methane (CH4) into the atmosphere and it includes the human
activities such as change of land use and combustion of fossil
fuel.
Climatic change is one of the most important global
environmental challenges facing humanity with implications
for food production, natural ecosystems, freshwater supply,
health, etc.
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The most important cause of the change of climate is

1. Global Warming
2. Acid Rain
3. Ozone Depletion / Ozone Hole
Global warming:
The increase in the global mean temperature is called “global
warming”. The global warming is due to increase in
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Air Pollution traps more
heat in the atmosphere, rendering the earth more-warmer. This
effect is called as “global warming”.
Causes
The Deforestation is one of the main reasons of global
warming. Cutting and burning of about 34 million acres of
trees every year results in urbanisation and the land for
factories timber lead to deforestation.
In addition to the deforestation, the GHG’s like Carbon-di-
oxide (CO2), Methane (MH4), Nitrous Oxide (N2O) also
contributes to the global warming.
Acid rain :
Acid forming gases (SO2, N2O) from industries and fossil
fuel combustion, are oxidised after travelling thousands of
kilometre in the atmosphere to form acid rain.
Sulphur-di-oxide (SO2) → Sulphuric acid (H2SO4) →;
Nitrous oxide (N2O) → Nitric acid (HNO3) ;
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HCI → Hydrochloric Acid (HCI ACID); CO2 →Carbonic

acid.
Acid rain: effects
1. Deterioration of buildings (Taj Mahal with marble).
2. Damage of statues, metals, fishes and leaves of trees.
3. Sufferings of aquatic animals.
4. Damage to trees by insects and fungi which are tolerant
to acid rain.
Ozone depletion or ozone hole
Ozone layer:
Ozone Layer is in Stratosphere. It is a natural sun screen,
filtering Ultraviolet rays (UV) from sunlight, protecting living
organisms for the past 450 million years. The thinning of
stratospheric layer is referred to as ozone hole.
Ozone layer depletion: causes
The Anthropogenic emissions of CFC’s are the main cause of
worrying seasonal ozone losses in both the hemispheres of our
earth. Long-lived chloride compounds of CFC’s are mainly
responsible for ozone losses.
Ozone depletion: effects
 More UV rays (particularly, UV – B) reaching earth and
affecting DNA and photosynthetic chemicals resulting in
mutation and cancer.
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 In man, skin cancer (including melanoma, cataract and a

decline in immunity.
 Phytoplanktons are decreased so that at Zooplankton and
fishes are also decreased affecting the whole food chain.
 Crop yield will increase.
 Degradation of plants and plastics take place.
Ozone layer depletion: control measures
In 1987, Montreal Protocol was prepared in which
27 countries signed to protect stratospheric ozone, phasing out
of O3 depleting substances. Until now 175 countries have
signed in the protocol. In 1992, earth Summit (UNCED) was
conducted to reduce the green-house gases. In 1997, Kyoto
Protocol was prepared in Kyoto, with Japan emphasising to
reduce 5% Green-house gases below the 1990 level.
CASE LAWS
Virendra Gaur vs. State of Haryana
HELD: The protection of life and personal liberty has been
guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950
where it is impliedly stated that “Right to Life includes Right
to a Healthy Environment”.
M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India
HELD: As a result of the emission of gases, the court imposes
ban on diesel vehicles to restrict the air pollution.

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M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India

(OLEUM GAS LEAK CASE)
HELD: The Supreme Court applied the principle of “absolute
liability” in order to compensate the victims of the pollution
caused by the hazardous industries.
M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India
(GANGES RIVER POLLUTION CASE)
HELD: The Supreme Court ordered the industries which were
located on the banks of the Ganga River and releasing
inherently dangerous substances in the river.
Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum vs. Union of India
HELD: The Supreme Court applied the precautionary
principle and held that the leather industries should be shut
down as it expelled more hazardous substances
Pandey vs. Union of India
HELD: The National Green Tribunal held that the change of
climate was already dealt under the Impact Assessment
Processes under the Protection of Environment Act, 1986.
Hanuman Laxman Aroskar vs. Union of India
HELD: The Supreme Court pronounced the judgement in
favour of the Petitioners by stating that, “The Government
should maintain a balance between the goals of airport
development and concerns of environment”.

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In re Court on its own Motion vs. State Of Himachal

Pradesh and Other
HELD: The court viewed that the black carbon is the major
reason for melting of glaciers in the regions of Himalayas. In
addition to that, the court held that “The citizens of India have
the right to a clean, wholesome and decent environment,
guaranteed under Article 48A of the Indian Constitution,
1950; Requirement of the State to protect and improve the
environment as per Article 51 of the Constitution and
Protection of Life and Personal Liberty as given under Article
21 of the Indian Constitution.
Punamchand vs. Union of India
HELD: As the irrigation project named “Handya-Kundya”
provides benefit to the agriculturalists, the court granted
clearance for the irrigational project by listing out various
implementation measures.

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