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A decade ago, when the idea for this journal was born, the law of climate change was still in its relative infancy. To the surprise of many, the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) had just entered into force, and its operational rules and procedures were being elaborated. Parties had already begun negotiations on the framework for international climate cooperation after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period was set to expire. Meanwhile, the evolving politics in several nations, including a changed majority in the United States legislature, promised more favourable domestic conditions for ambitious climate action. A vibrant system of tradable emission allowances in the European Union was seen as the starting point for a global carbonmarket whose value was predicted to exceed one trillion dollars. Excitement pervaded the climate community, and one discipline, in particular, began identifying opportunities for engagement at the emerging nexus of climate change and the law: legal scholars and practitioners.
Much has changed in the last ten years, but some things have also remained the same. Although the international climate regime did not evolve as originally expected, with the controversial climate summit in Copenhagen marking a major inflection point, we now have an international treaty that sets out the architecture for climate cooperation beyond 2020: the Paris Agreement. Adoptedwith nearly universal support, it achievesmuch broader and diverse participation than the Kyoto Protocol, but does so at...