Treaties and Enforceability

Biden has now rejoined the Paris climate accords.  Back when Trump withdrew from them, there was a lot of talk about how there was no need to withdraw since all the targets were voluntary anyway.  (One wonders what the point of being party to the agreement is in that case, but we'll leave that aside.)  In what I believe to be an unprecedented developement, private organizations in France sued the national government for failing to live up to its commitments under the agreement and actually won in court.  This is unusual on multiple levels.  For one, I'm not sure what standing any group could possibly have to sue its government over an international treaty.  Perhaps that is a nicety of common law as opposed to Roman law; I don't know enough to say.  For another, it is hard to see exactly what this suit achieves for the plaintiffs.  The court ordered the government to pay one franc as a fine, and I don't see any other remedies included, so it is difficult to tell if the government is required to take any specific steps.  It is difficult to tell what precise steps they would have to take since there are no damages to be compensated -- perhaps, again, damages are a concept of common law that doesn't apply here.

One thing we can definitely conclude is that at least one other party to the climate accords does not believe they are voluntary, and I wonder what all those who said the contrary a few years ago would respond to that.

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