환경권 측면에서 영국의 청정화력발전 육성 법제 연구

Abstract

It is regarded as a legal obligation, not a recommendation, that states take effective legislative and administrative measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The international human rights regimes, including the UN and the EU, are approaching to climate change from the perspective of human rights. Therefore, state parties have positive lgeal responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to guarantee human rights. Further, the environmental treaties, including the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement, assign contracting parties specific and legal responsibilities in connection with greenhouse gas emissions reduction. The United Kingdom promptly and positively responded to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The UK enacted the Climate Change Act in 2008 and legalized carbon target which quantifies national goals in terms of greenhouse gas emissions reduction for the first time in the world. Considering that significant portions of greenhouse gases emissions come from energy, the UK have amended its energy acts and established a national framework to support research and development of low-carbon thermal power plant technologies. Based on the relevant laws, the UK government have implemented multilateral policies to promote the development of low-carbon thermal power plant: financial and legal aid of research and development of low-carbon thermal power generation technologies, infrastructure development to help commercialization of the technologies, and implementation of the strategies to strengthen its competitiveness in the energy market. In particular, the government have provided various and consistent supporting projects for demonstration test in the field of low-carbon thermal power generation technologies. The UK's legal and administrative efforts to support low-carbon thermal power generation technologies have recently produced remarkable results. As well as securing outstanding technological skills in the field of low-carbon thermal power generation technologies, the UK, by comparison with the 1990 emissions, achieved a 38% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 201, exceeding the existing carbon target. The UK's legal system to promote low-carbon thermal power plant have significant implications to the Korean law in that recent greenhouse gas emissions of Korea have doubled in comparison to 1990.