Carbon property rights, cities and climate change

Abstract

In a time of climate change, cities are challenged by the twin demands of reduced carbon emissions and the provision of a potable water supply. Meanwhile our governance and legal frameworks are inadequately prepared for the emergent trade in carbon property rights and water property rights. Such instances are compounded when legal frameworks from developed economies are applied to developing nations, particularly those with a reliance on customary structures. The key contribution to the body of literature is our highlighting of inappropriate reliance on legal precedent to explain emergent rights (which sees them wrongly described in a climate changed world) and the evolution of a coherent model of the constellation of carbon property relations and interests. Key Words: Real property rights, constellation, carbon property, carbon-constrained cities, Australia.