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(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2022 7(2), 527-532 | European Forum Highlight of 27 July 2022 | (Abstract) The Highlight discusses the EU policy on soil protection and preservation. It is argued that the EU has thus far failed to establish a comprehensive and effective legal framework on this issue. Rather, the EU acquis is extremely fragmented, with soils being addressed as ancillary elements to other environmental priorities. The Highlight points out that the current state of affairs is largely due to the Council's inability to conduct successful negotiations on the Commission's 2006 proposal for a Soil Framework Directive. This legislative initiative was abandoned in 2014 following claims of its violation of the subsidiarity principle. However, in the framework of its new Soil Strategy for 2030, the Commission has included an upcoming proposal for a comprehensive Soil Health Directive. The Highlight argues that, while the Commission is taking seriously the pre-proposal impact assessment, subsidiarity check and consultations, the current state of the environment requires the governments sitting in the Council to leave aside their formalistic criticisms and to adopt a proactive approach to the negotiations, with a view to bridging the existing gap in EU environmental law.

(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2022 7(1), 253-264 | European Forum Insight of 18 May 2022 | (Table of Contents) I. Introduction. - II. Un insuccès imputable à l'obstacle de la recevabilité des requêtes climatiques auprès de la Cour de justice. - III. Explorer les voies de droit à même de porter la défense du climat devant la Cour de justice. - IV. Mobiliser en Europe des droits fondamentaux substantiels adaptés au contentieux climatique. | (Abstract) So far, climate change litigation in the European Union has been a disappointment, since the European Court of Justice denied the admissibility of two promising cases in 2021: Sabo ECLI:EU:C:2021:24 and Carvalho ECLI:EU:T:2019:252. Nonetheless, the European human rights litigation can still play a significant role in alleviating the ongoing climate crisis in the future. There is still a path to find the access to the Luxembourg Court for future claims related to climate change. Renewed standards of European Human Rights could also be one of the keys to create a proper case law to fight global warming.

(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2017 2(2), 519-542 | Article | (Table of Contents) I. Introduction. - II. The legal phenomenon of IEMEIs. - II.1. IEMEIs regulating conduct abroad on the basis of environmental regulatory requirements. - II.2. IEMEIs regulating trade: market access conditions and obligations on Third Country actors. - II.3. Compliance with IEMEIs: "contingent unilateralism", equivalence and flexibility. - III. Access to justice. - III.1. Avenues for access to justice for different kinds of third country actors. - III.2. Standing. - III.3. The Aarhus Convention and access to justice. - IV. Conclusion. | (Abstract) The EU conducts its external relations through different types of tools, including through unilateral domestic measures with extraterritorial implications that extend its regulatory power to processes occurring partly abroad. These are increasingly prevalent in the area of environmental protection, including climate change. Examples include the sustainability criteria for biofuels, the inclusion of aviation emissions in the EU emissions trading system, ship recycling, exports of electrical and electronic waste and imports of timber. Because these measures are unilateral in nature, developed within the EU legal order, but have important legal and policy effects beyond EU borders, they raise complex legitimacy questions and may give rise to an external accountability gap. The role of EU administrative law, which controls the exercise of EU public power, is important in "disciplining" the exercise of EU power beyond EU borders and filling this gap. The Article explores some of the novel regulatory techniques employed in these kinds of internal measures to conduct external action and how administrative law responds to their complexities. It focuses on access to justice in the EU legal order in exploring the extent of an external accountability gap. The constraints of accessing the EU judicial system may accentuate the external accountability gap if the EU cannot be held into account on the basis of its own rule of law by third country actors affected by its action.

(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2016 1(3), 1153-1170 | European Forum Insight of 22 December 2016 | (Table of Contents) I. Introduction - II. The Judgment in Context - II.1. Theory and Practice of Market-Based Environmental Regulation - II.2 Emissions Trading in the EU - III. The DK Recycling Case - III.1 Background - III.2. DK Recycling before the General Court - III.3. DK Recycling before the Court of Justice - IV. A Parallel Between DK Recycling and the Regulatory Shift to Auctioning: The Normative Landscape of Allowance Allocation - V. DK Recycling, Allowance Allocation and Theoretical Constructions of the EU ETS. | (Abstract) In its judgment of 22 June 2016, DK Recycling und Roheisen GmbH v. Commission, the Court of Justice ruled on an appeal brought by a German undertaking operating installations subject to the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), i.e. a "carbon market" where operators trade greenhouse gas emission allowances. At issue in the case were the rules on free allocation of emission allowances. After putting the case in context by providing an overview of the normative framework of the mechanism, the present analysis examines how the case contributes to the understanding of the theoretical implications of the EU ETS.

The Cluster WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is one of the cornerstones of humanitarian action, and a key element for the promotion of health worldwide. The recent years demonstrated the pressure on this humanitarian cluster, as a result of climate change. At the same time, it is also clear that WASH actions have a potential to foster health promotion, preparedness, and resilience among communities affected by humanitarian crisis related to climate hazards. This aspect is visible in both the existing literature of the major international organisations and NGOs networks acting in this field. It is also visible in the best practices promoted in two countries looked at in the paper: Bangladesh and the United States. This comparative analysis allows us to extract conclusions that may be replicable in other national or local contexts. It contributes to a better comprehension of the links between the humanitarian indicators and actions, and the imperative of a work with communities in order to improve even more the preparedness of the health impact of climate change.

The paper intends to bring to the reader’s attention the importance of understanding the role education plays in creating a good geopolitical position for a state which has a good geographical position, and which is well endowed in natural resources. The case of Romania is the main focus of the paper. There is presented a peculiar strange situation of a country (Romania) which is very well located from geographical point of view but which is incapable to exploit its natural endowments and special location. One reason for this situation is the fact that most people living in present Romania belong to a category named in this paper ‘individuals’. Individuals are not aware of their country’s geography and history, let alone its possible future development possibilities. They do not know the role their country could play, and living in an atomized society, they choose emigration as the easiest way to escape harsh social and economic environment. Contrary to this attitude is that of a citizen, a man conscious about his country’s potential, and which is dedicated to work hardly together with his fellows in order to promote national interests in a peaceful manner. Even there was found remnants of an ancient city close to present day Romanian territory – proves of well endowed environment – moral and psychological factors have contributed after 1990 in an crucial manner to push Romania from its civilization path back to the archaic spirit, from active urban spirit to rural mentality. In such a situation it is not uncommon for a nation to lose its means for projecting power, which could promote the value and the importance of a geographical position – transportation; rural mentality has nothing to do with modern transportation as they are technical tools with geopolitical essence for controlling space. It is a well known fact that transportation and geopolitics are closely interrelated. Furthermore, social dissolution in post communist Romania is identified in population reduction’s number, in missing trust in her successful evolution, falling agriculture and deforestation. All these negative aspects have pushed back Romania from geopolitical point of view. As solution for regaining its geopolitical role, Romanian must have an educated population, which would be conscious about the important connection between geography and education, and between Romania’s geographical position and the needed tools for promoting it from geopolitical point of view. Cough between East and West, Romania belongs to both areas; much more, in the context of climate change, Romania’s land, fresh water, and cheap water transport possibilities on Danube and Black Sea (and well beyond it) must be used at their real capacities. Only in that moment Romania’s special geographical position will made Romania an active geopolitical actor, helping Romanians to determine its fate in a sustainable manner.

It’s needless to say that nuclear is a hot subject. It arouses public imagination, suspicion, and fear. It has always animated scientists’ minds and souls and after they discovered how to manipulate the atom, the public conscience has become aware of its dangers and its merits. Present paper aims to present why it is important to regard with optimism and trust the science of atoms, not without loosing our critical view concerning the risks inherently connected to it. Nuclear arms are a reality, but climate change is another. Mankind is facing both. It cannot ignore one of them without assuming greater risks in the future. In this context, nuclear can be regarded with hope and audacity. Its expansion, both in countries where it already is employed, and into newcomers (where it could be implemented), can bring benefits such as: reducing energy dependence on foreign interests placed under the umbrella of oil and gas producers, or transporters; rising energy security in a world where access to cheap and reliable energy would become more problematic; greater success in fighting climate changes and global warming through energy generated in a more environmentally friendly manner. Furthermore, over the energy aspect of peaceful nuclear energy, there is another economic and technological benefit: nuclear researches could be involved simultaneously in electricity generation, heat production, agricultural and industrial rising’s potential, water desalinization and providing in arid areas, and application in medical researches and treatment. But nuclear has its weak points: it is connected to military researches and programs, while offering the needed technical ground for UN Security Council permanent members to have and maintain prestige in international politics; it looms over mankind, as a menace which hunts our conscience after Hiroshima and Nagasaki… Its minuses have to do with international context, too: if we connect the highest level in technology with strongest religious sentiment than we can face a terrifying drama. A nuclear nuke in the hands of a terrorist organization is the worst nightmare mankind could face. Countries with nuclear arms (Russian Federation and Pakistan) were courted by dangerous organizations, which searched to gain access to fissile material. But there is a hope, and the paper presents it in an indirect manner: if public conscience activates in direction of nuclear disarmament, nuclear could become the hope for a better future. Nuclear disarmament would mean a safer world, while peaceful nuclear expansion will mean cleaner energy and greater access to electricity in more areas, all of them creating a better world and a civilization proud of its name.

This paper moves from the idea that cities represent a central “battlefield” for today’s environmental challenges. Climate change, in particular, poses significative threats for urban landscapes and communities living in urban space. On the one hand, today’s challenges have significant continuities with classical urban issues: cities have always been space of conflicts, contradictions, inequalities. Environmental issues represent one of the many stressors of urban dynamics; conflicts on the locations of polluting sites, for example, have developed over the last fifty years, intertwined with segregation and discrimination processes. On the other hand, the central role of the environment in current policies, framed as “sustainability policies”, need a specific, renewed and stronger focus on urban inequalities, that can significantly benefit from new analytical tools, such as Big data. The first paragraph give a short perspective on environmental justice history and main topics, focusing in particular on its lasting interest for spatial inequalities and discrimination processes. The second paragraph underlines how, within the context of climate change, such perspective proves to be still useful, permitting to deepen our understandings of vulnerabilities and recovery processes in the aftermath of disasters, or resilience planning’s failures. The third and last paragraph illustrates how new analytical tools, such as Big Data or ecometrics, can be used to inform local policies and strengthen cooperation between activists, citizen, administrators and academics in tackling inequalities within the urban fabric.

The paper reflects on the state of the art in the field of smart cities and climate change focusing on how cities can play a role in meeting the 2030 climate neutrality goal. It investigates the main streams of literature on cities’ visions (smart city, sharing city, self-sufficient city, 15-minuts city, circular city) and the climate-neutrality approach proposed by the European Commission through the EU mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities. The mission has identified 100 European cities that will be engaged in a transition to climate neutrality by the end of 2030 as cities’ model to push other cities to work for meeting goals of decarbonization. The 9 Italian cities selected by the mission, as well as a city inspired by the mission itself, are presented with their programs and initiatives in order to highlight how they are replying to the main urban challenges in terms of services provisions. The emerging hypothesis is that, to provide services in a fair and just way reducing environmental impact, city should be understand as a commons. A co-city model based on a penta helix approach as those proposed by Foster and Iaione, is thus a strategic way to deal with the urban challenges also in a climate logic and would help cities to meet the EU goals by 2030.

When it comes to climate change mitigation, both the European Union (EU) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are regarded as the main actors driving international efforts, but for different reasons. While the EU’s status as a climate change champion is based on its ability to regulate and set high international norms and standards, the PRC is one of the world’s great powers that have the economic and technological resources and the capacity needed to significantly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Benefiting from its institutional and regulatory framework, the EU seeks through its foreign policy and other cooperation mechanisms to persuade other international actors, such as the PRC, to adapt their climate change policies to European demands in this area. In this paper, I analyze the normative power of the EU over the PRC in fighting climate change, and I will argue why the Brussels efforts to mitigate the speed of the global climate change after the signing of the Paris Agreement (PA) are only partially supplemented by those of the PRC. The reason why EU’s influence on Beijing’s climate change policy is limited has to do with the PRC’s own ambition on this issue, which is driven by its great power aspirations.

This paper investigates the use of science in British newspapers’ narratives of climate change between 1988 and 2016. It is based on the analysis of eight newspapers and their Sunday and online versions (Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, The Daily Express, The Sun, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent). We used the keywords “climate / climatic change”, “warm / warming” and “greenhouse / greenhouse effect” to retrieve the articles from the Nexis / Lexis database. To identify the articles with a specific focus on climate change, we included only those containing the keywords in the headline (9789 items). Framing theory helps interpret the process of construction of the “threat” through science by showing a tendency towards scientific consensus for the centre / left-leaning newspapers, and an instrumental use of consensus for the centre-right. These findings are useful for both scientists and policymakers interested in understanding how climate narratives can promote delay in action on climate change.

Urban microclimate studies could help manage heatwave crises and improve climate friendly urban planning. This paper presents adjustments to tools and approaches, in particular the Urban Climate Maps framework, typically produced in industrialized countries for contexts relevant to developing countries, where accurate urban data are often not available. In this study, relevant urban, architectural and land use data were collected and constructed to enable numerical simulations of a heat wave episode in the Greater Metropolitan area of Tunis. The simulation results indicate that the diurnal heat stress reached very high values corresponding to an extreme heat stress level, according to the Urban Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) scale, by 9 a.m. local time. The highest sea-breeze speeds were over the sea (∼8 m s−1). However, the effect of the sea breeze was low over densely urbanized areas (

This paper presents a digital interview with Justine Poon, legal researcher at the Australian National University (ANU), on selected aspects of Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos’ approach to environmental law and legal science.

The multidimensional nature of climate change makes it a complex matter, on both the theoretical and practical planes. The urgency and centrality of the issues and problems it poses are of key importance for our species and its survival. In this paper, we propose pairing the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities – the cornerstone of climate talks over the last thirty years – with the criterion of transgenerational responsibility. Such a criterion seeks to focus particular attention on the issues of diachronic justice and, in particular, intergenerational justice.

Adequate knowledge of climate change and correct perception of the associated risks by the population are crucial factors for the effectiveness of climate policies. We analyze this topic by collecting information on the degree of current risk perception and its evolution over the last ten years among citizens living in five municipalities in an area of Abruzzo, a central Italian region. In addition, we gather information on the willingness of citizens to stipulate public insurance against damages caused by extreme events. The paper offers a descriptive analysis of the association between outcomes and individual/household characteristics. We find the degree of risk perception is relatively high, as around 2/3 of respondents believe the current risk of suffering damage from extreme events related to climate change is high or very high. More than 90% also believe that this risk has increased in the last ten years. The perception, however, is heterogeneous across population subgroups. Finally, citizens’ inclination toward public insurance covering damage from extreme events is also high. We also provide a quantitative analysis of the factors affecting the current risk perception by adopting a probit model. The related results essentially confirm evidence from the qualitative analysis and stress, in line with previous studies, the importance of previous damages as a predictor of risk perception.

This paper presents the development of the methodology used to create an Urban Climatic Analytical Map (UC-AnMap) of Salvador, Brazil, based on its Land Use Patterns Map (MPO). Located in the Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is currently the fourth most populous city in the country, with nearly three million people. First, the MPO was used as a layer; then, an updated version of the MPO was used as a fundamental layer to derive thematic maps based on the distinct urban morphologies found in the city. MPOs are suggested here as a starting methodological procedure, a facilitative tool for the construction of an Urban Climatic Map. MPOs allow the variety of urban land use patterns to be captured and are based on universally available information, such as Google Earth images and tools, regardless of the existence of sophisticated and costly databases, which are not usually accessible in cities in developing countries. MPOs involve identifying and delimiting visually homogeneous land use areas in polygons at an adequate scale of 1:10,000. Similar areas are grouped under the same patterns, regardless of their urban functions, creating a classification system that characterizes different existing patterns by their distinct urban attributes. Salvador’s social and economic inequalities have produced ongoing unequal urban patterns, and institutional and structural factors have contributed to the absence of up-to-date digital urban databases. Given the local context, the Salvador UC-AnMap could not have been made without developing an MPO.

This paper focuses on the management of scarce water resources in two metropolises of the arid West of the United States facing intensifying droughts and increased water stress. Located in the Sonoran Desert and built on the model of the oasis city, Phoenix and Tucson are great examples of the socio-ecological challenges linked to extreme water scarcity. This study considers these two cities as laboratories for urban adaptation to climate change and explores competing modalities of adaptation to water scarcity. Since the system of large hydraulic infrastructures underpinning urban growth is increasingly called into question, we observe and analyze the power relations between stakeholders involved in water resource management. Using an urban political ecology framework, this contribution shows that adaptation strategies are implemented by dominant actors in order to maintain the growth trajectory of particularly attractive cities. Yet, it also highlights the role that citizen empowerment plays in the emergence of potential environmental alternatives. The results show that environmental alternatives play an important role in regulating resource control strategies and in calling for socio-environmental transformations in the urban metabolism.

Water and food are – along air – the most important things for human life. Even human health depends in a crucial manner on air, water and food. Since ancient times, philosophers analyzed the importance of these elements; Aristotle recalled that cities must have access to fresh air and clean water, in order to have a healthy population. Furthermore, they are interconnected; reduced water availability means poorer harvests. In this century humankind will face very complex phenomena, all reflecting their effects upon water and food. Climate changes, coupled with rising world population and urbanization, would amplify the vulnerability of many countries in the world. Haushofer recalled that a high urbanization degree brings a high geopolitical risk from military point of view; and the world of the future will have to handle all this complex issues with the greatest proportion of urbanized population in history. In this context, the first part of the paper is focused on problems menacing the world and their possible evolution, while the second is dedicated on possible solutions, mentioning the Romania’s capacity to become an agricultural power and a political stabilizer in region due to her potential for food production. As climate changes – overlapping rising population’s number, rising urbanization concentration and changing lifestyles in developing countries – will make humankind more vulnerable to extreme weather events, water, food and energy will come close to the center of domestic political agenda; anyway all these three elements are interrelated. A water crisis is an energy crisis because all types of energy are based directly or indirectly on water, while an energy crisis metamorphoses instantly in a food crises. These three elements are already moving towards central position in numerous countries’ foreign policy agenda. I call here only the case of South Korean state, which is in searching for access to land (and water) in Madagascar, at a very large scale. In this context, Romania’s food potential, doubled by its good position in water resources availability, could transform it in a regional stabilizer, changing its current second-rank position towards a more pivotal role. The exploitation in a sustainable manner of Romania’s potential for self-sufficiency in water and food areas will bring welfare for its citizens and stability in its geographical region, transforming it in a state with a better position in international relations.

Climate change appears as a major driver of identity crisis, affecting changes at local and global level in terms of spaces, security, livelihood and weather. The prevailing narration on climate change describes unfamiliar scenarios struck by exceptional events, that rarely can be connected with personal experiences. Yet, smaller but more subtle consequences of climate change occur in cities and in metropolitan areas, that suddenly appear fragile and risky contexts. The paper explores the notion of climate change, which is investigated in its constructive dimensions considering how scientific facts and social meanings contribute to shape the very notion of climate, across time and across disciplines.

Climate change appears as a major driver of identity crisis, affecting changes at local and global level in terms of spaces, security, livelihood and weather. The prevailing narration on climate change describes unfamiliar scenarios struck by exceptional events, that rarely can be connected with personal experiences. Yet, smaller but more subtle consequences of climate change occur in cities and in metropolitan areas, that suddenly appear fragile and risky contexts. The paper explores the notion of climate change, which is investigated in its constructive dimensions considering how scientific facts and social meanings contribute to shape the very notion of climate, across time and across disciplines.

Climate change appears as a major driver of identity crisis, affecting changes at local and global level in terms of spaces, security, livelihood and weather. The prevailing narration on climate change describes unfamiliar scenarios struck by exceptional events, that rarely can be connected with personal experiences. Yet, smaller but more subtle consequences of climate change occur in cities and in metropolitan areas, that suddenly appear fragile and risky contexts. The paper explores the notion of climate change, which is investigated in its constructive dimensions considering how scientific facts and social meanings contribute to shape the very notion of climate, across time and across disciplines.

Climate change appears as a major driver of identity crisis, affecting changes at local and global level in terms of spaces, security, livelihood and weather. The prevailing narration on climate change describes unfamiliar scenarios struck by exceptional events, that rarely can be connected with personal experiences. Yet, smaller but more subtle consequences of climate change occur in cities and in metropolitan areas, that suddenly appear fragile and risky contexts. The paper explores the notion of climate change, which is investigated in its constructive dimensions considering how scientific facts and social meanings contribute to shape the very notion of climate, across time and across disciplines.

This study investigates the climate change discourse as this is a highly debated topic nowadays. A case study is revealed in this paper, which consists of applying the critical discourse analysis method at Raiffeisen Bank, one of the most important international banks. The findings of this study disclose that misleading messages are construed in climate change discourse by using some persuasion means in order to support the statement of the discourse. The study was conducted by combining a wide variety of sources, such as articles, strategies, and reports.

After its massive introduction in the seventies in France Crassostrea gigas has become the main production of French oyster farming. From the early 1990’s, C. gigas has started to spread to many sites of Brittany and Normandy and, thanks to climate warming, its population has dramatically increased leading to a general invasion and to deep changes in ecosystems and biodiversity. A research program called PROGIG has been set up to evaluate the dynamic of this proliferation on French Channel and Atlantic coasts, and to identify its interactions with marine ecosystems and human activities. This paper presents the GIS implemented to integrate the data collected during field surveys of oyster populations, and the results of a spatial analysis of its potential interactions with human activities on coastal zone.