{"id":2,"date":"2026-08-04T10:48:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elevateproclim.wpenginepowered.com\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2026-09-09T20:43:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T20:43:06","slug":"sample-page","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/elevate.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Elevate Pro-Clima"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"gb-element-641b3b54\">\n<div class=\"gb-element-68bdece8\">\n<h2 class=\"gb-text gb-text-df2febfc\"><strong>Elevate Pro-Clima<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"gb-text gb-text-26e40fa3\"><em>Integrating the Best Available Science into Climate Action<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text gb-text-7fd4a616\">The <strong>Elevate Pro-Clima<\/strong> project, spearheaded by the Centre for Sustainable Development Law and Policy (CSDLP) at Durham University, represents a critical intersection between climate science and international environmental law. As we approach crucial milestones in global climate governance, this initiative focuses on bridging the gap between scientific consensus and actionable, legally sound climate policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"gb-text gb-text-5e0956b3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/elevate.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ELEVATE-ProClima-Report-Draft.pdf\">Read the full report<\/a>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"gb-text gb-text-98b5ab3f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.durham.ac.uk\/research\/institutes-and-centres\/csdlp\/\">Visit the CSDLP<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-element-bc6cbe9d\">\n<div class=\"gb-element-6a2d6e00\">\n<h3 class=\"gb-text gb-text-4de184c9\"><strong>What are Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-f9cd0361c6fedd6118443fa1e8d7245c wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)<\/strong> are the heart of the Paris Agreement. They are self-defined national climate action plans outlining how each country will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate impacts. Countries are required to update their NDCs every five years, with each submission reflecting a progression in ambition to incrementally close the gap toward the 1.5\u00b0C goal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-element-5e840926\">\n<div class=\"gb-element-676bffb4\">\n<h3 class=\"gb-text gb-text-960d4fa4\"><strong>A Brief History: From Kyoto to Paris<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-a5248a0e5759b1e84ac07f194f31e50e wp-block-paragraph\">To understand the current framework of international climate law, it is essential to look at its evolution:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-element-d7868cc0\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Kyoto Protocol (1997):<\/strong> This was the first major international treaty to mandate greenhouse gas emissions reductions. However, it only placed binding targets on developed nations, relying on mechanisms like the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to fund projects in developing countries. Its limited scope ultimately hindered its global effectiveness.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Paris Agreement (2015):<\/strong> The <a href=\"https:\/\/unfccc.int\/process-and-meetings\/the-paris-agreement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UNFCCC&#8217;s Paris Agreement<\/a> marked a historic shift by requiring <em>all<\/em> nations\u2014developed and developing\u2014to commit to climate action. Its overarching goal is to limit global warming to well below 2\u00b0C, preferably to 1.5\u00b0C, compared to pre-industrial levels. Instead of top-down mandates, it relies on a bottom-up approach driven by national commitments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-element-8f190eed\">\n<div class=\"gb-element-06e31d43\">\n<div class=\"gb-element-80e3c910\">\n<h3 class=\"gb-text gb-text-fd0b1306\"><strong>The Role of the &#8220;Best Available Science&#8221;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text gb-text-16ab4280\">At the core of the Elevate Pro-Clima report is the imperative to embed the <strong>&#8220;best available science&#8221;<\/strong> into legal and policy frameworks, specifically evidence provided by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=https:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)<\/a>. This integration is no longer just a recommendation; it is a foundational requirement for operationalizing climate obligations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-element-6d1b1bac\">\n<div class=\"gb-element-92e54f62\">\n<h4 class=\"gb-text\"><strong>Evidentiary Foundation<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report assesses how scientific evidence is gradually integrated into national and international policy. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-element-3e72b8c0\">\n<h4 class=\"gb-text\"><strong><strong>Highest Possible Ambition (HPA)<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Best available science dictates the legal and scientific indicators necessary to assess whether state policies align with the HPA requirement outlined in Article 4(3) of the Paris Agreement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-element-5c55e872\">\n<h4 class=\"gb-text\"><strong><strong>Judicial and Policy Alignment<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Translating complex climate science into digestible, legally actionable concepts ensures that courts and policymakers can accurately weigh factual evidence when enforcing the duty to prevent harm to the climate system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div>\n<div class=\"gb-element-8fa09135\">\n<h3 class=\"gb-text gb-text-18d0659d\"><strong>A Scientific Process for Classification<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-adc6e5ad1c9e06d80769cec89225e8f3 wp-block-paragraph\">One of the most complex challenges in climate law is classifying and standardizing state commitments to ensure they are both ambitious and credible. The report outlines a rigorous process for the classification of NDCs following the Global Stocktake:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-element-f71e2618\">\n<div class=\"gb-element-fafb887c\">\n<h4 class=\"gb-text gb-text-3eb9b64d\"><strong>Legal Nature of NDCs<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-c23e79ca6cb0580565d633f703417abb wp-block-paragraph\">Rather than viewing NDCs merely as self-determined promises, the science-informed classification process categorizes them as <strong>&#8220;prescribed qualified unilateral acts&#8221;<\/strong> under international law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-element-e07f02b5\">\n<h4 class=\"gb-text gb-text-d188009d\"><strong>Obligations of Means vs. Results<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-8b365d04b8c2ad5742895722630da343 wp-block-paragraph\">By applying scientific indicators, the process helps classify whether a state&#8217;s specific climate actions represent an obligation of conduct (the effort made) or an obligation of result (the actual emissions reduced).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-element-e6806603\">\n<h4 class=\"gb-text gb-text-bfc28150\"><strong>Iterative Qualification<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ca1d6e12bf9de6ccdd2058f307333fa5 wp-block-paragraph\">The Global Stocktake serves as a central oversight mechanism. Through this process, the scientific realities of global warming strictly qualify and shape the procedural rules and content of subsequent NDCs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-element-87939a18\">\n<div class=\"gb-element-ad9e8b58\">\n<h3 class=\"gb-text gb-text-66ddd73a\"><strong>Navigating Carbon Markets: Article 6 Explained<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-c492449374ef98ac133f69147c2c1a12 wp-block-paragraph\">To achieve these ambitious NDC targets cost-effectively, <strong>Article 6 of the Paris Agreement<\/strong> establishes a framework for voluntary international cooperation through carbon markets. It ensures that emissions reductions are not double-counted between nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-element-64e5ddec\">\n<div class=\"gb-element-ec569dc2\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Article 6.2 (Bilateral Trading):<\/strong> This allows countries to engage in decentralized, bilateral or multilateral trading of carbon credits, known as Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs). If one country overachieves its NDC, it can sell the excess reductions to another country to count toward its own targets, provided strict accounting (corresponding adjustments) is applied.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-element-ed31cba8\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Article 6.4 (Global Mechanism):<\/strong> This creates a centralized, UN-supervised system known as the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM). It serves as the successor to the Kyoto Protocol\u2019s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), allowing public and private entities to trade highly regulated emissions reductions (A6.4ERs) while promoting sustainable development in host countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-element-97a34815\">\n<div class=\"gb-element-9f407238\">\n<h3 class=\"gb-text gb-text-1d722174\"><strong>What is Next?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text gb-text-16937ef2\">With the third generation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs 3.0) already submitted, the global community has laid out its targets for 2035. However, setting targets is only the first hurdle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text gb-text-08967d08\">The immediate next steps focus on <strong>implementation, scrutiny, and legal accountability<\/strong>. Using the classification process developed by Elevate Pro-Clima these current NDCs must be systematically evaluated. By classifying these commitments accurately, legal and policy frameworks can shift from simply tracking procedural promises to enforcing substantive, measurable climate action, ensuring states deliver on the obligations necessary to keep the 1.5\u00b0C threshold within reach.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elevate Pro-Clima Integrating the Best Available Science into Climate Action The Elevate Pro-Clima project, spearheaded by the Centre for Sustainable Development Law and Policy (CSDLP) at Durham University, represents a critical intersection between climate science and international environmental law. As we approach crucial milestones in global climate governance, this initiative focuses on bridging the gap &#8230; <a title=\"Elevate Pro-Clima\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/elevate.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Elevate Pro-Clima\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elevate.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elevate.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elevate.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elevate.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elevate.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/elevate.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":274,"href":"https:\/\/elevate.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions\/274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elevate.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}