A Comparative Study On "Climate Change Act 2008" And "Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009"

As a result of the impact of human activity directly or indirectly, especially in the process of industrialization, developed countries consumed lots of energy and resources which made the content of greenhouse gases increased dramatically in the atmosphere. Global climate is undergoing a significant change which main feature is warming. Confronted with the reality and urgency of global climate change, on one hand, the main countries in the world are involving into the entry of framework convention on climate change, on the other hand, they are actively developing a series of domestic laws, policies and measures to tackle climate change. The UK has always been the active advocate and practitioner in controlling greenhouse gas emissions. For the purpose of helping the UK transit towards a low-carbon economy and demonstrating leadership internationally in tackling the issue of climate change, the UK and Scotland promulgated their climate change acts in Nov. 2008 and Aug. 2009 which play an exemplary role for the enacting of climate change laws of other countries. China is a developing country and Climate change is becoming an urgent task to cope with. Meanwhile, China is in a stage of rapid economic development, faced with dual pressures of economic development and greenhouse gases reduction. It is a tough situation and hard work for China to tackle climate change. Therefore it is necessary to consult and refer to mature experience and reasonable elements of the UK and Scotland, consequently appropriate legal advice and countermeasures should be proposed to cope with the issue of global warming."Climate Change law"should be promulgated as soon as possible by the NPC or NPC Standing Committee to cope with the serious challenge of global climate change.This thesis contains four Chapters.Chapterâ… is the introduction of"climate change act 2008",the act sets the interim and long-term greenhouse gases emission reduction targets, provides a carbon budget plan, founds the committee on climate change, and establishes domestic trading schemes etc.Chapterâ…¡first introduces the background and main sections of"Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009", then comment on the connections and differences with"climate change act 2008"and sort, analyze and extract its basic principles and main features of the two acts.Chapterâ…¢reviews the legislation and institution to tackle climate change in China, and then point out the defects and shortcomings of existing legislation and enforcement in our country. For instance, China lacks a basic law which regulates greenhouse gas emissions specifically and a strong unified body to tackle climate change issue domestically; part provisions of energy laws are too abstract to operate; domestic emission reduction standards do not have the effect of peremptory norm, etc.On the basis of the examination of the basic principles and main features of the two climate change acts comprehensively and systematically, Chapterâ…£suggests " Climate Change law" should be promulgated as soon as possible to tackle climate change. A ministry of energy and climate change committee should also be established to lead and deploy national energy saving and emission reduction programme domestic emission trading system should be constructed to cope with the serious challenge of global climate change.