In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was established as the first global treaty imposing legallybinding targets on the developed countries, imploring countries to curb greenhouse gases emissions from 2008 to 2012. In 2012, the Doha Amendment was agreed upon to extend KP for seven more years, from 2013 to 2020. However, it is not yet in force due to lack of ratification. The UN is trying to build a new international climate change system to succeed KP, which will encompass both the developing countries and the developed countries after 2020. The US, China, the EU and Japan are the four largest GHG emitters. Through the first period of KP, the international climate change system became an international political and economic network, creating new paradigms for energy resources, ways of life, carbon market, and economic development, et cetera. This article will show some of the underlying political and economic dynamics and responses of those four countries and Korea around the Post- KP negotiations.

Legal and Policy Implications on the Post-Kyoto Protocol System
  1. Introduction
  2. Underlying Interests around the Post-KP System
  3. Steering Players of the Post-Kyoto Protocol System: Critical Evaluation
  4. Korean Strategies for the Post-Kyoto Protocol System: Legal Analysis
  5. Conclusion

• Sung Ja Cho(Law at Kangwon National University, Korea.)