Eric 

BEA

Eric was a full-time researcher at the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL) at National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law. His research focuses on the making of international climate change law, following and analysing the developments of the Paris Agreement’s modalities, procedures, and guidance, with a specific focus on the sustainable development mechanism (SDM) and internationally transferred mitigation outcomes (ITMO). His research also extends to the possible applicability of the UNFCCC market mechanisms such the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), SDM, and ITMO to other global commons and international environmental issues. He has attended the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in 2018 (COP24) and 2019 (COP25).

Eric also co-delivered the ongoing collection of capacity-building programmes on UNFCCC climate negotiations with the Energy Studies Institute, NUS. Past participants have included geography teachers from the Ministry of Education (MOE), Singapore, as well as young professionals from top law firms, leaders in environmental non-governmental organisations, as well as youth and students. He is currently working on gamifying Singapore’s climate change policies for use in schools in Singapore.

Presentations

• “The Paris Agreement at a COVID Crossroads”, APCEL Webinar Series, 5 June 2020 – with Melissa Low, NUS ESI and Chamling Rai, WWF
• “Singapore’s Carbon Pricing Act and International Carbon Markets”, APCEL-ESI Executive Programme, 27 March 2020.
• “COP25 Preview and Panel Discussion on Eco-Anxiety”, APCEL-ESI Workshop, 27 October 2019. – with Melissa Low, NUS ESI
• Climate Change Negotiations Training Workshop, August – September 2019 – with Melissa Low, NUS ESI

Publications

• Eric Bea, ‘Closing the GAP between the National and the Global: A Regional and Market-Based Approach to End Plastic Pollution Working Paper/Book’ in Rose-Liza Eisma-Osorio and Linda Yanti Sulistiawati (eds), Marine Pollution Prevention and the Rule of Law (KAS-UC-KLRI-APCEL, 2021)
• “Extended Producer Responsibility in Singapore’s Resource Sustainability Act”, (2019) APCEL Working Paper Series, APCEL-WPS-1904 – with Melissa Low
• “United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 25th Conference of the Parties (COP25) Madrid 2019”, (2020) APCEL Reports, APCEL-REP2001
• “Reflections on COP24, Katowice 2018”, (2019) APCEL Reports, APCEL-REP1901 — with Jamie Lee, Sarah Lu and Carol Yuen

• Climate Change Law
• International Environmental Law

Projects

Reinforcements Incoming: The ILC Draft Guidelines on the Protection of the Atmosphere in relation to the Paris Agreement

The United Nations International Law Commission (ILC) included the Protection of the Atmosphere (POTA) in its work programme in 2013, and adopted the Draft Guidelines in 2018. In the intervening period, however, the Paris Agreement was adopted at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2015. This has changed the landscape of international climate law drastically. Even so, the Paris Agreement remains a work in progress, with the much-vaunted Paris Rulebook adopted at COP 24 Katowice being an incomplete set of rules.

In light of the above, this paper will illustrate that the POTA draft guidelines will help to reinforce the implementation of the Paris Agreement in three ways – firstly, by establishing and defining a framework of international atmospheric obligations. Secondly, it facilitates the interlinking of international climate law with other areas of international law, specifically in the law of the sea, international trade and investment law, and international human rights law. Finally, it clarifies the position of state parties to the Paris Agreement as to their obligations to each other to keep to the goal of “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels” in Article 2(1)(a) of the Paris Agreement.

Closing the GAP Between the National and the Global: A Regional and Market-Based Approach to End Plastic Pollution

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal was recently amended to treat plastic waste as hazardous. Further, an amendment to the Convention has recently come into force, prohibiting the export of hazardous waste from participating developed countries to participating developing countries. While this is all good, and adds to the legal arsenal against the scourge of plastic waste, it does not stop the proliferation of plastic waste. The Convention of the Law of the Sea does include some basic principles for the protection of the marine environment, but its reliance on incorporation by reference has meant that regulations on marine pollution have effectively only been adopted for ship-source pollution, and not land-based pollution.

The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) has also been seized of the issue.  Informed by the principles of common but differentiated responsibility (CBDR) and the polluter pays principle, this working paper builds on the UNEA’s Ad Hoc Open-Ended Expert Group on Marine Litter and Microplastics (AHEG)’s proposal for a “Global Architecture for Marine Plastic” (GAMP). It proposes a Global Architecture for Plastics Plus (GAP+) consisting of a global framework agreement, supported by regional plastic treaties and regionally-determined plastic waste elimination commitments, plus a global market-based crediting mechanism (MBCM) to deliver and implement appropriate technology development and transfer (TDT) in each region, as well as funding environmental and ecological restoration efforts. The GAP+ should therefore catalyse and accelerate the efforts and ambitions of states and regions, as well as the private sector, in adopting the necessary actions and technologies to eliminate plastic waste, especially in the marine environment.