기후변화 대응을 위한 아시아 태평양 파트너십의 유용성에 대한 국제법적 검토

In year 2008, serious concerns on the adverse impacts of climate change were again raised in the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. However, current climate change regime of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol seems to be ineffective in stabilizing greenhouse gases. This is partly because of the hard law based approach of the UN Climate Change regime which often results in low level standards and poor compliance. The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate(APP) emerged in order to address the problems of climate change more effectively by relying on the soft law based approach among the seven like-minded countries. While introducing soft law instruments such as Vision Statement, Charter and Work Plans, the APP emphasizes on the cooperation supported by market and technology. This may ultimately promote more effective implementation of the policy measures as it would ensure the adequate diffusion of clean technologies and encourage wider participation of the stakeholders, including industries and research institutions. The soft law based approach of the APP also allows the states to be flexible to agree on more realistic solutions while not being constrained by the unproductive and time consuming diplomatic negotiations on legally binding standards.