Treaty Options Papers: Exploring possible elements of a Fossil Fuel Treaty
This briefing series focuses primarily on the possible legal design of a treaty - including its scope, principles, commitments, and institutional architecture. It draws on precedents from international environmental, human rights, trade, arms control and other areas of international law to identify options for states and advocates to consider in the design of a Fossil Fuel Treaty.
The briefs are not exhaustive in their coverage of treaty design elements or in the options identified for each, and do not advocate for specific outcomes. Rather, by mapping relevant precedents from existing international agreements, they aim to inform and stimulate thinking about the full range of possibilities available to negotiators - including approaches that draw on, adapt, or go beyond existing practice.
There are six briefings below, covering a potential Fossil Fuel Treaty:
Each briefing has a Summary for Policymakers available.
The briefings were produced for the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative by: Professor Harro van Asselt and Renatus Otto Franz Derler (University of Cambridge) and Professor Peter Newell and Freddie Daley (University of Sussex). The views expressed are those of the authors.
The Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative is a global diplomatic and advocacy effort towards a treaty that would enable a just transition away from fossil fuels. A treaty is a formal agreement between states under international law that, once in force, creates obligations that participating states are required to uphold. A Fossil Fuel Treaty would include:
provisions that states agree to comply with relating to an equitable phase out and end to expansion of fossil fuels;
mechanisms designed to create the conditions under which the just transition can take place - addressing finance and debt, and building cooperative trade relationships that make participating in the treaty a useful and attractive prospect for fossil fuel producers and consumers alike; and
the institutional architecture required to support these provisions, including transparency and compliance arrangements, decision-making bodies and more.
Brief One: ScopeA treaty's scope defines what it covers, who it applies to, where, and when. This briefing explores the key scope-related choices that would face negotiators of a Fossil Fuel Treaty. It considers options for whether the treaty should include a standalone scope provision; how fossil fuels and related activities could be defined and which parts of the supply chain - from exploration and financing through to trade and consumption - should fall within its remit; and questions of temporal and jurisdictional reach. The briefing also examines whether obligations could extend beyond states to non-state actors such as fossil fuel companies.
Brief Two: PrinciplesThis briefing examines the role that principles of international law could play in a Fossil Fuel Treaty - both in guiding interpretation of the treaty's substantive provisions and in building consensus among negotiating states. It considers whether principles should be included in a dedicated treaty provision or confined to the preamble, and considers a broad range of principles that could be relevant, from well-established norms such as common but differentiated responsibilities, the polluter-pays principle, and free, prior and informed consent, to more emerging ones including just transition, intergenerational equity, and solidarity. For each principle, the briefing outlines its legal status, identifies relevant treaty precedents, and explores how it might apply in the specific context of regulating fossil fuel production.
Brief Three: CommitmentsThis briefing examines the range of commitments and control measures that could form the operative core of a Fossil Fuel Treaty, covering both the form obligations might take and their substantive content. It begins by distinguishing between obligations of conduct and obligations of result, and between binding and non-binding language, before exploring the main types of commitment available to negotiators. These include prohibitions on new fossil fuel mines and fields, production reduction targets (whether absolute, relative, or nationally determined), financial targets, trade measures directed at non-parties, standards adoption, market mechanisms such as taxation and emissions trading, and a suite of informational and transparency obligations. The briefing also addresses how commitments can be differentiated across parties and considers the role of time-bound targets in driving accountability and ambition.
Brief Four: TransparencyTransparency arrangements play a central role in any effective treaty regime, enabling monitoring of commitments, building trust between parties, and supporting accountability to the broader public. This briefing maps the range of transparency provisions that could be incorporated into a Fossil Fuel Treaty. It covers options for reporting and review - including how these might be differentiated to reflect varying national capacities - as well as global-level monitoring and effectiveness review mechanisms. It also addresses transparency of governance, including access to information, public participation in decision-making at the national and intergovernmental levels, and private sector disclosure requirements. Throughout, the briefing considers how transparency arrangements can be designed to be non-adversarial and equitable while remaining robust enough to drive accountability for the treaty's core objectives.
Brief Five: ComplianceEffective compliance mechanisms are essential to ensuring that treaty commitments translate into real-world action. This briefing considers the options available to negotiators of a Fossil Fuel Treaty for designing a compliance system, covering the foundational choice between facilitative and enforcement-oriented approaches, the range of mechanisms by which non-compliance procedures can be initiated and the institutional design of compliance committees. The briefing then examines the spectrum of possible consequences for non-compliance, from capacity-building and action plans at the facilitative end, through to declarations of non-compliance, suspension of treaty rights, and trade sanctions at the enforcement end.
Brief Six: Pathways to Start Treaty NegotiationsThis briefing examines the legal and diplomatic pathways available for initiating negotiations towards a Fossil Fuel Treaty, and the practical considerations that would arise along the way. It considers four possible routes: a mandate through the UN General Assembly, negotiation under the UNFCCC, a process convened through the UN Environment Assembly, and a standalone process outside the UN system driven by a coalition of willing states. For each pathway, the briefing assesses the relevant thresholds, procedural requirements, and political advantages and constraints. It then sets out the detailed considerations that would apply to a standalone negotiating process, including the convening of an initial conference, the role of a host secretariat, the adoption of rules of procedure, questions of participation and voting, and the use of a basic text as a starting point for negotiations.
