Georgia.
Giving legal support to NGOs and developing country delegations in international climate change negotiations.
New Perimeter is DLA Piper’s global pro bono initiative providing assistance in under-served regions. Since 2012, DLA Piper lawyers have been supporting the Georgian delegation to the UNFCCC. Support to the delegation has included advocacy, legal advice, research, negotiation and English language proficiency. Through this project the Georgian delegation has doubled in size. With the presence of DLA Piper lawyers and Georgian delegates there was physically enough presence for Georgia to be represented in many work streams.
DLA Piper provides support to the Georgian delegation around the clock, and provides access to lawyers with a range of expertise in a variety of offices around the world. Until recently
Georgia was unaffiliated with any of the four officially recognised negotiating groups within the UNFCCC process. In 2015, a long-term project began to determine how Georgia could accede to a negotiating group. The Environmental Integrity Group (EIG) is a geographically diverse group committed to multilateral solutions for addressing climate change. DLA Piper approached the EIG on Georgia’s behalf to advocate for membership. This proved successful in 2017 at
COP23 in Bonn when Georgia joined as a full member. Since then, Georgia has seen a number of achievements within the UNFCCC including at the COP25 in Madrid where a Georgian delegate was elected to serve as ViceChair of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice.
In late 2019, a team of lawyers followed-up the day-to-day development of the COP25 on various selected topics including principles for an international carbon market mechanism and the development of a system of liability/compensation schemes for countries having caused climate change.
