Sale of Quotas for Greenhouse Gas Emissions as a Type Civil Sale and Purchase Contract

• Autore: Aleksey Anisimov, Olga Popova
• Carica: Kutafin Moscow State Law University/I. Kant Baltic Federal University
• Pagine: 41-66

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hps://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2531‐6133/15149

Received:02Sep.2021|Accepted:08Dec.2021|Published:07July2022

A

SaleofQuotasforGreenhouseGasEmissionsasaTypeCivil

SaleandPurchaseContract

A

LEKSEY

A

NISIMOV

*&O

LGA

P

OPOVA

**

*AlekseyAnisimov,SJD,isProfessorattheDepartmentofEnvironmentalandNaturalResources

LawattheKutafinMoscowStateLawUniversity(RussianFederation).

**OlgaPopovaisSJDcandidateandAssociateProfessorattheDepartmentofBusinessLawatthe

I.KantBalticFederalUniversity(RussianFederation).

@*anisimovap@mail.ru**Jvolodina1973@mail.ru

ID*0000-0003-3988-2066**0000-0001-6784-1101

ABSTRACT

Thearticleexaminestheemergence,developmentandcurrentlegalregulationofthesaleand

purchaseagreementandrevealstheplaceofsaleofquotasforgreenhousegasemissionsinthe

systemofcivilcontracts.Thecharacterofthesaleofemissionofquotasbetweenstatesis

considered,aswellasthelegalnatureofthequotasale(incarbonunits)contractinthe

frameworkofnationaljurisdictions.Theauthorsconcludethattheterm“quota”meansa

quantitativelimitationofgreenhousegas(G.H.G.)emissions,whichshouldbeunderstoodas

gaseouswaste(G.W.),whichhasnotreceivedclearregulationinthenational(Russian)law.

RecognitionofG.W.asakindofindustrialwastewillmakeitpossibletobetterunderstandand

explainitslegalnature,anddirectlythealienationofacertainamount(quota)ofG.W.withinthe

frameworkofcivillegislationistheconclusionofacontractofsaleofpropertyrightsbelonging

totheownerofG.W.toanotherbusinessentityforafeeandforacertainperiod.

KEYWORDS

Climate;Contract;Emissions;GreenhouseGases;Quota

TABLEOFCONTENTS

Introduction............................................42

1.TheHistoryoftheDevelopmentoftheSaleandPurchaseContractintheWorldandin

Russia..............................................43

2.TypesofPurchaseandSaleAgreementsinModernCivilLaw................46

3.ClimateChangeandtheRoleoftheParisClimateAgreementintheEmergenceofNew

FormsandMethodsofCombatingGreenhouseGases....................51

4.GreenhouseGas[hereinafterG.H.G.]EmissionQuotasSaleandPurchaseAgreement:

Subject,PartiesandOtherFeaturesofLegalRegulation...................53

4.1.PublicLawBackgroundfortheSaleofG.H.G.EmissionQuotas..........53

4.2.PrivateLawFeaturesoftheSaleofG.H.G.EmissionQuotas............58

Conclusion.............................................65

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SALEOFQUOTASFORGREENHOUSEGASEMISSIONS

INTRODUCTION

Civillawisoneofthemostimportantbranchesoflawinthemodernworld.After

thousandsofyearsofhistory,moderncivillawcanboastofvariouscontractualpatterns,

bothstrongenoughtobetestedbytimeandweakenoughtovanishwithoutleaving

trace.Inthecurrentsystemofcivilcontracts,thesaleandpurchasecontractoccupiesa

specialplace.Havingemergedintheearlystagesofthestate-andthusofthelegal

system,ithasundergonealongevolution,duringwhichitshoweditsviability,entering

thecivilcodesofallmodernstatesoftheworld.Ofcourse,throughoutallhistoricaleras,

therecanbenoquestionofanysinglelegalregulationofsaleandpurchase,butatthe

momentthegeneraltrendinmostdevelopedcountriesshowsagradualunderstanding

thatglobalisationanddigitalisationofpubliclifecannotbutcontactthescopeof

contractlaw.

Anotherquestionishowthestateandsocietyshouldrespondtothesechallenges.

Therecanhardlybeauniversalanswertothisquestion.

Inouropinion,theanswerisnecessarilylinkedtonationallegaltraditions,the

levelofeconomicdevelopment,culturalandreligiouscharacteristicsofcertaincountries

-andsometimestheveryhistoricalcourseofdevelopmentofaparticularstateandof

itslegalsystem.Inthissense,RussiaandotherformerSovietrepublicsareofparticular

interestduetoauniquemodelofeconomicreformsassociatedwiththetransitionfroma

plannedeconomytoamarketeconomy,whichentails“catch-updevelopment”onmany

issues,includingcontractlaw.Atthesametime,itseemsthatthelaw,despiteitsnatural

conservatism,shouldnotalwaysonlyreacttoemergingsocialrelationswhichrequire

someregulation.Thepredictivefunctionoflawexpectsthestudyandforecastofthe

developmentinvariousspheresofpublicrelations,anditrequiresanearlylegalimpact

onthem,thisisintheinterestsofthestateandsociety.Oneofsuchpromisingareasofthe

legalinstitutionofsaleandpurchaseisthetradingofquotasforgreenhousegasemissions,

whichhasofficiallybeenrecognisedbytheUnitedNations[hereinafterU.N.]Framework

ConventiononClimateChange1992withtheKyotoProtocol(1997).Thiswasthefirst

timethattheUNhaseverproposedanon-standardapproachtosolvingtheproblems

associatedwithclimatechangeandwiththeincreasingofaverageannualtemperatures.

TheauthorsoftheKyotoProtocolassumedthatthecountriesproduceddifferentamounts

ofgreenhousegaseswhichareharmfultotheatmosphereandclimate,andtherefore,they

couldsellpartofsuchquotastoothercountries,therebyreducingthetotalamountof

emissionsonaglobalscale.

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