The language of flexibility and the flexibility of language

Flexibility instruments such as joint implementation and emissions trading have played an important part in climate change policy negotiations since b efore the signing of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. They are l ikely to remain an important feature of future negotiations. This paper exa mines the characteristics of the Various flexibility mechanisms introduced by the Kyoto Protocol. Although the language in which they are couched diff ers significantly from earlier language on flexibility, the authors point o ut that many of the proposed mechanisms are broadly similar to mechanisms w hich have already been mooted. They suggest that contentious issues will no t be resolved by linguistic changes, and are best addressed by an open reco gnition of the multiple objectives under which flexibility instruments oper ate.