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Vol. 72 No. 1 (2019): Jak uczyć o stosunkach międzynarodowych?

Law

Competences of the UN Security Council on climate issues

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35757/SM.2019.72.1.05
Submitted: January 10, 2020
Published: March 29, 2019

Abstract

Originally, the UN Security Council was entrusted with the competences to maintain international peace and security as a state without armed conflict. These competencies have been extended and nowadays they include humanitarian and epidemiological issues. This is related to the changing scope of the notion of ‘threat to peace’, which already includes acts of violation of human rights, terrorist acts and epidemics. More and more attention is paid to threats resulting from climate change in international documents. An example is the new concept of the so-called climate conflict. The indicated threats have given rise to discussions on climate change in the UN Security Council. The debates also dealt with the question of possible competences of this body in climatic matters. Among the members of the UN Security Council, including permanent members, there was a clear difference of opinions. The resolutions 2349 (2017) and 2408 (2018) can be seen as a turning point in the discussion, in which the UN Security Council unanimously recognised the relationship between climate change and international security. The Security Council’s competences in climate matters could be based on articles 33.2, 34, 38, 40, 41, 42 and 96 of the UN Charter. Despite the evolution of the approach to the climate dimension of security, the UN Security Council is still far from issuing a resolution on climate change including obligations on countries or companies, for instance in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As a member of the UN Security Council, Poland should work on consensus in this regard.

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