Environment and Law Newsletter #3
A newsletter about the most important news, decisions, scientific papers, events and anything else related to environment and law. Issue #3 is covering May 19th-June 2nd Enjoy!
As the late, great Kobe Bryant once said: “Time flies!”
This is already our third edition, covering the dates between May 19th and June 2nd, 2023! Thank you for all the attention, the newsletter is slowly but steadily growing 😊 From now on, I will share the actual subscriber count here at the beginning, so maybe you’ll say “Poor guy has 21 subscribers but thinks he is growing” and decide to share it with friends and colleagues 😂 And here is a share link to make life easier for you:
This was a very busy 2 weeks in the environmental sphere. We have some follow-up news on France’s ban on short-distance flights, a Panama law that protects the rights of our turtle friends, the UN’s decision on children's right to a healthy environment, many reading recommendations, academic papers, and online events. It’s even hard to summarize in a paragraph, so without further ado, here are the recent developments regarding the environment and environmental law. Hope you enjoy it! 🍃
🌍 Latest News
France bans short-haul flights in an effort to fight climate change. France has officially banned domestic flights on short routes that can be covered by train in less than two and a half hours in an effort to reduce airline emissions. The change, which took effect Tuesday, mainly affects flights between Paris and regional hubs such as Nantes, Lyon, and Bordeaux, but not connecting flights.
Follow-up: Was France banning short-haul flights as big of a deal as it was portrayed? Sophia Khatsenkova from EuroNews does a little bit of fact-checking.
But is this a step forward? Certainly! Some EU members even called on the EU to tighten the laws for private jets, which is a very controversial topic in climate change.
Indonesia and Malaysia send ministers to push back EU restrictions on palm oil. The officials will meet with European policymakers to discuss ways to minimize the regulation’s impacts on palm oil producers, particularly smallholders
In a report published on Friday, May 26th, World Health Organization warns that “Rising temperatures could lead to more than 9 million climate-related deaths each year by the end of the century.”
According to the International Energy Agency's (IEA) World Energy Investments report, clean energy investments are outpacing fossil fuel expenditures due to "energy security" concerns triggered by the global energy crisis.
A new law guarantees sea turtles in Panama the right to live and have free passage in a healthy environment. According to Euronews, "it ‘will allow any Panamanian citizen to be the voice of sea turtles and defend them legally,’ says Callie Veelenturf, who founded a group that works to protect leatherback turtles and pushed for the legislation.”
There was also other news on the rights of the natural movement! A town in England voted to recognize the rights of its river, the River Ouse.
Also, check this academic paper by Yaffa Epstein et. al.: Science and the legal rights of nature.
⚖ From the Courts and Organizations
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recognizes all children have a fundamental human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment! You can watch the announcement made by Ann Skelton here.
The 76th World Health Assembly took place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 21–30 May 2023. You can find proceedings, documents, and other things related to the Assembly here.
Many environmental-related issues were addressed, including air pollution and climate change.
Also, World Health Assembly adopted a landmark resolution on chemical pollution. The resolution received widespread support from 40 countries, urging the WHO to intensify efforts in combating these issues and producing supporting data.
The resolution was discussed in a parallel event to the Assembly, which can be followed here.
EU briefing to companies on Corporate sustainability due diligence: How to integrate human rights and environmental concerns in value chains?
The Second Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution took place (Actually it might still be taking place at the time this mail arrives you).
Check out the plenary session right here 👇
UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change published a new report: Providing legal options to protect the human rights of persons displaced across international borders due to climate change.
Check Sebastian Duyck’s tweet for crucial points from the report.
The European Union. is preparing to introduce new rules requiring companies to respect human rights and environmental standards in their supply chains. The landmark vote is considered “a turning point for business in the EU & beyond”. More info about this can be found in a tweet thread by ShareAction.
📢 Past and Upcoming Events
(UPCOMING) Governing the EU’s Transition towards Climate Neutrality and Sustainability, June 27th, 2023, Under the title “Governing the EU’s Transition towards Climate Neutrality and Sustainability” the conference will be an opportunity to debate where we stand today, joining different voices, research, and experiences, and discuss the challenges ahead. Register here.
(UPCOMING) Protecting nature, creating accountability, framing change: the power of recognising “ecocide”, June 6th, 2023. “This event will discuss the progress and relevance of the fast-growing ecocide law initiative in a variety of contexts pertinent to the protection of our planet’s vital ecosystems, drawing together a variety of perspectives.” Register here.
(UPCOMING) The International Law of the Sea Summer Academy by Kadir Has University (Istanbul), 24 July - 4 August 2023, Register here.
(UPCOMING) (IN-PERSON) Electricity System Decarbonization: Where we Stand and the Challenges Ahead, June 15th, 2023, Panel discussion on "Electricity System Decarbonization: Where we Stand and the Challenges Ahead." Address: William and June Warren Hall, 1125 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027 Room 309. More info here.
(UPCOMING) Bonn Climate Change Conference, June 5th, 2023.
At the Bonn Climate Change Conference, experts and government officials will prepare for the UN Climate Change Conference by addressing financial issues in the context of losses and damages caused by the climate crisis and adaptation processes. Follow it on UNFCCC Website.
(PAST) Tracking the Inflation Reduction Act: Benefits to Date & Next Steps. The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School and Environmental Defense Fund hosted a webinar on Monday, May 22 to discuss progress and next steps with the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), America’s biggest climate investment. Watch it here 👇
👨🏫 Academic Works
Public Expenditure, Green Finance, and Environmental Governance: Evidence From China, Li, L., Shen, Z., Song, M. et al.. Environ Model Assess (2023).
Artificial intelligence in the new forms of environmental governance in the Chilean State: Towards an eco-algorithmic governance, Martín Tironi, Diego Ignacio Rivera Lisboa, Technology in Society.
The Right to a Healthy Environment as an EU Normative Response to COVID-19: A Theoretical Framework, Chiara Scissa, European Yearbook on Human Rights 2021.
Adopting Resilience Thinking through Nature-Based Solutions within Urban Planning: A Case Study in the City of València, Gemma García-Blanco, Daniel Navarro, Efren Feliu, Buildings 2023, 13(5), 1317.
Time to pay the piper: Fossil fuel companies’ reparations for climate damages, Marco Grasso, Richard Heede, One Earth Volume 6, Issue 5, p441-572.
Just Transition as an Evolving Concept in International Climate Law, Vilja Johansson, Journal of Environmental Law, eqad017.
💡 Recommendations
📖 What to read?
Net zero transition planning as a change management process. By Darian McBain.
The flying penguin in a space suit is crashing above the ocean: The destruction of the global commons – An international criminal law approach. By David Krott from International Law Blog
If this is not an intriguing title, I don’t know what is 😂 - AP
New York Adopts Nation's Strongest Environmental Justice Law. By Michael B. Gerrard and Edward McTiernan from Sabin Center.
White Paper on Dispute Resolution. By International Law Association.
What’s ‘Climate Colonialism?’ Typhoon Mawar’s Carnage in Guam Offers Insight. By Kristoffer Tigue from Inside Climate News.
‘Degrowth’ starts to move in from Europe’s policy fringes. By Martin Sandbu.
Did it felt like we would try to grow more and more until there is no room to grow? This article tells us a story of degrowth and what’s to come for especially EU (but also for the whole world). Maybe not growing is all we need to solve our problems! - AP
The Law of the Sea. By Surabhi Ranganathan.
Beyond Factory Farms: A New Look at the Rights of Animals. An interview with Peter Singer, by Richard Schiffman.
📺 What to watch?
2020 marked the 50th anniversary of the modern environmental law era. To celebrate this, American Bar Association made a great video titled “Understanding Environmental Law”. Yes, most of you already knew 10 times more than anything this video has to tell, but it is still a valuable resource as it does a great job using animations. This could be a great recommendation for beginner in environmental law field and your students will enjoy this more than most of powerpoint presentations (It is at least a lot fun than my boring slides). So don’t hesitate to watch and recommend 👇
🎧 What to listen to?
Since I talked about The Second Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (and also American Bar Association), I want to recommend you a podcast episode. There is a great podcast from American Bar Association Environment Energy and Resources Section and the last episode (May 30th), they talked about microplastics and litigation. This is the 8th episode of their episode series on microplastics and it aligns with the date of said intergovernmental committe’s session. But we encourage you to catch up on all 8 episodes of this series and also listen to earlier episodes too if you can find the time. The last episode is titled “Litigation and Future Predictions” and you can listen to it righ here 👇
📌 Bulletin Board: Call for Papers, Scholarships, Internships, and Job Opportunities!
From now on, I will make sure that you hear about some opportunities in the field of environmental law! Here you will find calls for papers to submit your academic work, scholarships for young environmental law enthusiasts, internships, and job opportunities for fellow lawyers (like me!) who would like to gain experience in environmental law and in particular in an international institution. This is the Environment and Law Bulletin Board!
The Jean Monnet Network GreenDeal-NET - Governing the EU’s Transition towards Climate Neutrality and Sustainability - announces a call for abstracts for a hybrid Workshop on the “The EU Climate & Energy Framework for 2030 and Beyond” to be held on December 7th - 8th 2023 at University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland (workshop venue TBC - Joensuu or other GreenDeal-NET partner university). The workshop will lead to a special issue in Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law (RECIEL).
Deadline: Tuesday, July 3rd 2023.
Please submit a long abstract (max 600 words) to goran.dominioni@dcu.ie, and seita.romppanen@uef.fi – with "Call for Papers — EU Climate & Energy Framework for 2030 and Beyond " in the subject line
Call for Papers for the Workshop on External dimensions of the European Green Deal.
This workshop is organized within the framework of the Jean Monnet Network on the European Green Deal: Governing the EU’s Transition towards Climate Neutrality and Sustainability (GreenDeal-NET). The workshop will take place in a hybrid format on 4 and 5 September 2023 and will be held at Dublin City University.
Deadline: Tuesday, June 20th 2023.
Please submit a long abstract (max 600 words) to goran.dominioni@dcu.ie, louisa.parks@unitn.it and markus.pauli@dcu.ie – with "Call for Papers" in the subject line.
Molchanov Sustainability Internship, International Law Programme London, England, United Kingdom.
“The International Law Programme at Chatham House is a unique and trusted voice on international law and governance issues. Our work has far-reaching impact and is critically important at a time of global political instability, accompanied by threats to the rule of law.”
Closing Date: Tuesday 6 June at 10.00 am BST.
Internship Start Date: Monday, 11 September 2023.
Duration: Six months.
This is the end of this week's Environment and Law newsletter! Thank you for bearing with me and reading this far. If there’s anything you’d like to say, please leave a comment. I would love some feedback!
I hope life treats you well until we meet again. Cheers!
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