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Throughout 2021, the Biden administration has pursued a series of key climate change and environmental justice initiatives. Given that, historically, American environmental law developments have long been acknowledged as influential for Australia, it is expected that the Biden administration's initiatives will shape the trajectory of Australian climate change and environmental law in the future. This opinion piece distils the detail of the Biden administration's actions across the spheres of executive orders, agency appointments, the Glasgow Climate Change Conference (COP26), regulatory measures and law reform to analyse the emerging precedent and prospective implications for Australian law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It emerges from this article that the concept of worldviews has the potency of different applications for environmental law scholars. Firstly, it can serve as an excellent theoretical framework for environmental law research. Secondly, environmental law can be further improved. Thirdly, the concept draws attention to the importance of inner/subjective factors of environmental policy and legislation. Fourthly, the concept supports the importance of an authentic deep transformation in our societies, and the promotion of an integrative worldview in order to help this transformational process. Finally, while an integrative worldview is strengthened, basic human rights shall be respected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that EU-induced learning processes in Turkish domestic politics deserve greater attention within the Turkey-related Europeanization literature, which, in view of Turkey's increasing distance from the European Union, tends to attribute a continued partial alignment with EU policies to either domestic, or to non-EU-related external factors. Two arguments are put forward. First, in domestically driven reform processes, the EU may still be able to influence policy choices due to domestic actors' bounded rationality and conflicting goals. Second, while persuasion and learning at the top political level is rather unlikely, given the currently tense relations, there are much more favorable context conditions for EU-induced learning in the interaction of the Turkish bureaucracy with the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the emergence of strategic climate change litigation and the potential for such litigation to establish legal responsibilities for corporations in relation to climate change, as a way to help address the distributive, compensatory and intergenerational issues of climate justice. Topics discussed include information on corporate climate liability litigation, and overview of corporations law litigation.

The European environmental movement has been reconfigured since the introduction of the pan-European public interest environmental law group based on the model founded in the USA around 1970. Yet it has been claimed that there is a low degree of success in transplanting legal practices from one national space to another. Examination of the successful transplantation of a US legal model to the European context by the law group ClientEarth shows both that this claim is false and why it is false. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese state is squarely 'back' in the business of environmental governance with an increasing number of policy innovations or experiments to resolve environmental issues. These have been mostly enacted through the 'experimentation under hierarchy' framework, undergirded by compensation- for-performance incentive structures for local agents. Based on on-site ethnography in local China, a critical analysis is presented of low-carbon city policy experiments - one of the most prominent environmental policies introduced in the past decade. Using lessons from the agency theory, it is hypothesized that outcomes of these policy innovations are contingent on different policy dimensions. Although a number of positive outcomes have been achieved in output-oriented dimensions, the fundamental difficulty of specifying all aspects of complex, multidimensional work tasks involved in low-carbon city development has frequently led to policy unmaking. The findings raise important questions about China's tendency to rely excessively on compensation- for-performance structures to promote environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the Juliana v U.S. case which involves American climate change policy and is considered the most important environmental case in the country. The violation made by the U.S. federal government to the plaintiffs’ fundamental constitutional rights to liberty, life, and property by substantially causing or contributing to a dangerous concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is mentioned.

European Union (EU) climate/energy targets and policies are poised for the first full climate policy cycle - from adoption and implementation of the policy package for 2020, to reform for 2030. A dynamic approach to the ways in which EU policies affect policy development is developed by applying theories of domestic implementation, policy feedback and integration. Implementation experiences in Poland - the ‘least climate ambitious’ EU member state - affected Polish preferences for reformed EU policies. Existing EU policies, their ‘fit’ with Poland’s energy interests and change in anticipation of future EU policies explain much of the variation in preferences. Second, policy feedback from Poland significantly affected the EU 2030 climate and energy framework. As yet, the EU has succeeded only partly in gathering momentum through a ‘snowball’ effect whereby positive policy feedback from implementation generates further steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the environmental problems, especially in developing countries, as well as new environmental laws limiting the use of fossil fuels, governments seek to replace fossil fuels with clean energies like renewable energies. The purpose of this study was to assess the development of renewable energy as well as reviewing the laws and policies of China and Taiwan in this regard. We also constructed different scenarios based on national sources, in consideration of a significant increase in the electrical power generation and a reduction in the CO2emission. Focus is placed on the renewable energy development and a significant reduction in the CO2emission. The results showed that the photovoltaic solar systems have the greatest benefits in energy production and CO2emission reduction in China and Taiwan. However, due to economic consideration and technical problems, there is still a long way to go. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Under what conditions do critical events trigger large-scale public discussion and mobilisation, and can these lead to policy change? In a comparative study of nuclear energy policy after the Japanese Fukushima disaster in March 2011, a theory-development approach is adopted, mobilising data collected from national news agencies’ newswires, public surveys, legislation and parliamentary databases, and newspaper editorials in 12 established democracies between March 2011 and March 2013. The analysis suggests two main hypotheses that can guide future research: critical events are more likely to trigger policy change when intense (contentious) mobilisation from policy challengers aligns with the views of the general public, and is backed by major political allies; and critical events are more likely to trigger intense (contentious) mobilisation when policy challengers articulate their opposition around pre-existing policy debates on the issue and resort to pre-existing organisational and mobilisation resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global circulation of the word ‘fracking’ seems to testify to a setback for energy transitions, a nexus that has not yet received much scholarly attention. In light of this, the controversy over fracking is understood as furthering infrastructural changes that are central to energy transitions. Infrastructure should not be understood as materialityper sebut instead as sedimented but ultimately discursive elements that can be reactivated and rearticulated. Examining ‘infrastructure’ from the point of view of discourse theory places the focus on infrastructural change. Prior to 2011, the oil and gas infrastructure in northern Germany was largely invisible to the public. The subsequent reassembling of production with fracking facilitated the politicization not just of that term but also of the whole infrastructure. Instead of routinely reproducing the infrastructure, subjects that had formerly dominated the field were confronted with new and heterogeneous voices that challenged their agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new framework for analysing subnational policymaking is applied to climate governance in the ‘twin towns’ of Newcastle upon Tyne and Gelsenkirchen. Low levels of resource interdependence between central and local government in England mean that Newcastle Council has to rely heavily on other horizontal actors to achieve its climate objectives. In contrast, Gelsenkirchen Council receives substantial support from higher tiers of government, which gives it greater control over policymaking within the locality. Greater independence between tiers of government can make it more difficult for subnational bodies to adopt the kind of ambitious policies that may be necessary to combat wicked and/or significant policy challenges such as climate change. Instead, interdependent ‘joint-decision’ systems, which facilitate mutual support across tiers of government, may be better equipped to ensure that subnational public bodies have the capacity to act appropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main achievements of the debates on deliberative democracy and democratised science are investigated in order to analyse the reasons, meanings and prospects for a democratisation of global environmental policy. A deliberative systems approach, which emphasises the need to explore how processes in societal spheres interact to shape the deliberative qualities of the system as a whole, is adopted. Although science plays a key role in this, its potential to enhance deliberative capacity has hardly been addressed in deliberative theories. The democratisation of science has potential to contribute to the democratisation of global environmental policy, in that it also shapes the potential of deliberative arrangements in the policy sphere. Deliberative arrangements within the policy sphere may stimulate the democratisation of science to different degrees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An environmental management framework (EMF) is a uniquely South African environmental management tool legislated since 2006. Although the tool has been widely applied there has been no empirical research on the overall extent and status of EMF practice. The aim of this paper is to describe the extent and status of EMF practice between 2006 and 2015 through a combination of survey methods. The ‘extent’ of practice is described against the number of EMFs, the lead agents, spatial distribution, scale, time frames and accessibility of information, while the ‘status’ is discussed in relation to the legal mandate of EMF and the number of adopted and gazetted EMFs. The research results show that 53 EMF projects were initiated between 2006 and 2015 and that practice varies significantly in terms of lead agents, spatial distribution, scale and time frames. Moreover the research shows that just over half of the EMFs have been gazetted and that access to information in the public domain is limited. Finally, recommendations are made for future research around the quality and effectiveness of EMF. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article explores the possibility that the precautionary principle may be scrapped from the European Union's (EU) free trade agreements. Topics covered included the legal and regulatory approaches to environmental policymaking which helped the formation of the precautionary principle as a guideline in environmental decision making and the reasons the Innovation Principle is much favored in the U.S. and why it is under intense scrutiny in the EU.

The Convention on Biological Diversity's national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs) are major mechanisms for mainstreaming biodiversity into national policies. This article examines whether and how the NBSAPs contribute to mainstreaming biodiversity across policy sectors in Finland in order to halt biodiversity loss. We have developed an innovative analytical framework where the concept of responsibility addresses how motivations for mainstreaming can be built, and the concept of social learning outcomes addresses the extent of institutional changes for biodiversity. The Finnish NBSAP processes have been able to build diverse forms of responsibility (liability, accountability, responsiveness and care) in different policy sectors by providing new knowledge, careful process design and developing institutional linkages. Despite pro-biodiversity outcomes in the targeted policy sectors, the responsibilities do not diffuse from the environmental administration to other policy sectors to a sufficient extent. Closing this ‘responsibility gap’ is a key challenge for building effective environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-compensation for watershed services (EWS), or the more general payments for ecosystem services, is an incentive-based environmental policy instrument. With official documents and first-hand data from fieldwork, we analyze China’s 17 EWS pilot schemes across 16 provinces. Major environmental crises in China can partly be caused by the inadequate incentives for local governments to forcefully implement the environmental laws and policies. EWS schemes in China mainly target local governments in upstream and downstream watersheds, rather than the private entities in normal applications elsewhere, to provide economic incentives and to encourage their enforcement activities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Does religion affect legislators’ behavior on environmental policy in the US? Studies of environmental policy making have not examined this question, although the literature suggests that religion might affect legislative behavior on environmental policy. This study examines the relationship between US House members’ religion and roll-call voting on environmental legislation from 1973 to 2009. It finds significant differences across religious traditions. Legislators’ party and characteristics of constituencies relevant to environmental politics increasingly, but not entirely, mediate these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An essay is presented on the economic interests and the environmental protection issues associated with gold mining in Argentina. Topics discussed include the resistance of the public on mining developments in the country due to the significance of its glacier region, the passage of glacier protection laws, and the considerations of significant environmental policy decisions.

One of the stated aims of the EU ETS is to promote investment in clean, low-carbon technologies. Against this background, this paper aims to provide an original analysis of how the EU ETS has impacted on corporate investment decisions and whether it does so at a level adequate to reach the long-term political targets required for a decarbonization of the European economy. In this paper, the authors provide empirical evidence for this question by analyzing corporate reactions to the EU ETS for Belgian EU ETS sites. Despite the fact that most managers use prices that are much higher than spot prices in their appraisal reports, expected prices are still far too low to mobilize additional financing for new investments in lower carbon modes of production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental policy is characterised by complexity, in causes and effects, resulting in various combinations of policy instruments. However, evaluating these policy instrument mixes and assessing their effectiveness is difficult because of a lack of methodological approaches. This paper therefore proposes a methodology which comprises: (a) describing the underlying policy theory; (b) describing the policy instruments; (c) analysing goal attainment; and (d) evaluating effectiveness, focusing on coverage of points of intervention, steering power of policy instruments and coherence of the policy instruments mix. The methodology is illustrated with an evaluation of noise policy in the Netherlands – a typical complex policy domain in which a mix of policy instruments has been in place for decades, and thus provides a good empirical case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on presenting the main territorial impacts of the projects approved under the auspices of the EU Cohesion Policy in Algarve (Portugal), over the last couple of decades (1990–2010). In general terms, it tunes up the TARGET_TIA methodology to assess the territorial impacts at the regional level. More concretely, it analyses the territorial impacts in the four main dimensions of territorial cohesion: socio-economic cohesion, environmental sustainability, territorial governance/cooperation and urban polycentricity. In syntheses, the territorial impacts of the EU Cohesion Policy in Algarve were moderately positive in stimulating regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New markets are key in debates concerning environmental regimes. Critics and proponents share a discourse that characterises environmental markets in terms of scale; many discuss how to scale environmental markets ‘the right way’. Building on previous work in human geography, actor–network theory, and governmentality studies, we unpack the dual but always interwoven politics of scale-making in doing environmental policies, which consists of material-semiotic practices of producing and using scales as ontologically real ordering devices. Drawing from the results of three studies conducted independently by the authors, we analyse material-semiotic scale-making practices in different ways of enacting environmental markets. By revealing the dual politics of scale production and use in environmental markets, our analysis contributes to the study of developing and implementing environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction between science and policy in transboundary environmental regulation is dynamic. By elaborating on the concepts of boundary organisations and portable representations, I shed light on how science-based policy and policy-relevant science are co-produced. This perspective is then put to use in an analysis of the scientific representation and political regulation of two different environmental issues: ground-level ozone and biodiversity. Portable representations function as a link between experts and policymakers. By means of portable representations, nature is not only measured and represented but also made governable. Portable representations seemed to strengthen the credibility of both scientific assessments and policy. Science makes itself matter by formally separating itself from policy considerations, although the two are at the same time integrated through portable representations from boundary organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to high fuel costs and environmental regulations, the optimization of ship speed to minimize fuel consumption and reduce carbon emissions has become a hot issue in the maritime industry. In this paper, we study the sailing speed optimization problem for a ship operating on a route having a specified sequence of calling ports with time windows for calling time. The considered problem can be formulated as a non-linear program. We derive the intrinsic properties of the problem and develop an optimal algorithm based on the properties. Computational experiments show that the developed algorithm in this paper is efficient in finding an optimal solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an analytical framework based on current implementation theory, this research examines the transposition of the EU Waste Framework Directive into UK law and local government development control procedures. The study which forms the basis of this paper was commissioned by the UK Government to evaluate the effectiveness of the construction Waste Management Plans introduced as a legal requirement in 2008. It was found that its implementation had largely failed and that these new laws had been ineffective. Subsequently, in March 2012 the UK Government announced its intention to withdraw these Regulations. In the context of current deregulatory pressures, but with the continuing need to minimise construction waste, this research concludes that more attention should be paid by central government to their current ‘top-down’ implementation procedures in order to better roll-out new environmental legislation in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mainstream analyses have often understood environmental effectiveness as a consequence of the shape of interests and policymaking, and have tested their models through statistical techniques. Results have, however, proved quite erratic. It is argued that these weaknesses reflect a misconception about causality, thus highlighting the need for a shift in both model and method. A different model is therefore developed that explains effectiveness through policy tools and ideas. The model is then applied to the performances of the EU15 member states in mid-2000s, and assessed using Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Cases are polarised around two classic cleavages (‘environmentalists’ vs. ‘productivists’, and ‘pro-marketers’ vs. ‘protectionists’), but give evidence that all the related tool mixes are able to deliver – while the relevant difference between leaders and laggards lies in the use of evaluation devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Parliament has been heralded as a champion of environmental policy within the European Union. However, there have been few recent studies of the European Parliament's treatment of environmental legislation, despite the many changes that have taken place within the EU. To correct this oversight all European Parliament amendments to environmental co-decision legislation between 1999 and 2009 have been classified according to their environmental importance and analysed to determine how the chamber's behaviour has changed over time and which factors shape its success. The European Parliament appears to have become both less radical and less successful in incorporating strong green amendments into legislation, and the European Commission emerges as a central explanation for the European Parliament's ability to do so. Despite the Commission's reputation as a partner seeking to advance the environmental agenda, it does not appear inclined to support the European Parliament's attempts to green legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While treadmill of production theory is recognized as an important political economic explanation of environmental harms within sociology, it has not been examined in the context of green criminology. This research connects green criminology and treadmill of production by examining whether the state can limit the treadmill of production through enforcement. Specifically, this study asks whether large monetary penalties administered against corporations for environmental violations are negatively related to ecological additions. Fixed effects regression is used to examine the association between penalties and toxic releases. The models estimate within company variation before and after environmental penalties are assessed and holds constant any unchanging company attributes that may introduce significant specification error into the models. Results indicate that the relationship between penalties and toxic releases is weak at best, suggesting that penalties are more likely to legitimate the treadmill of production than to limit its environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012, which came into force on 6 July 2012, virtually eliminates the core of federal-level environmental assessment in Canada. Under the new law, federal environmental assessments will be few, fragmentary, inconsistent and late. Key decision-making will be discretionary and consequently unpredictable. Much of it will be cloaked in secrecy. The residual potential for effective, efficient and fair assessments will depend heavily on requirements under other federal legislation and on the uneven diversity of provincial, territorial and Aboriginal assessment processes. This paper reviews the key characteristics of the new law in light of 10 basic design principles for environmental assessment processes, and considers the broader international implications of the Canadian retreat from application of these principles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The provincial legislature of British Columbia (B.C.), Canada, recently enacted Bill 27, which requires all municipal official community plans to contain greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and associated policies by the end of May 2010. While the legislation is unique by North American standards in its mandate, it lacks particular design features that scholars believe to be critical for fostering compliance. To examine municipal compliance with Bill 27, we address two research questions: what per cent of B.C. municipalities adopted targets by the legislated deadline, and which factors explain variation in target adoption across municipalities? To help answer these questions, we utilise univariate descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses (including mean comparisons and correlation analysis), and binary logistic regression analysis. We find that nearly two-thirds of municipalities adopted targets by the deadline, and that target adoption across municipalities varies with particular municipal characteristics. Our findings highlight the importance of crafting legislation in a strategic fashion in order to maximise effectiveness, and the potential need for provincial governments to target particular sub-populations for additional education and assistance regarding climate action planning. We suggest directions for future research, including additional analysis of the content of adopted targets and associated policies by B.C. municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To investigate the ‘promiscuous history’ of the efficiency of emissions trading markets, I draw from Actor Network Theory and specifically the work of Bruno Latour, highlighting how the commonly made claim to efficiency was constructed as a ‘fact’. I trace the processes, beginning in the early 1970s, that constructed first the inefficiency of command-and-control regulation through the distinction between the means and the ends of regulation, and the conversion of the specific 1970 Clean Air Act regulations into the archetypal form of command-and-control. Alongside this, the efficiency of emissions trading was constructed through the provision of empirical, modeling evidence and the re-construction of the Environmental Protection Agency's early Emissions Trading System as an ‘ad hoc’ implementation of ‘pure’ economic theory. In this way specific regulatory forms were translated into a seemingly universal economic narrative, and emissions trading was stabilised as a regulatory technology applicable to multiple environmental pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Environmental state-change in the Arctic Ocean is introducing risks of political, economic and cultural instability. Interests are awakening to take advantage of new energy, shipping, fishing and tourism opportunities associated with the diminishing sea-ice. With urgency–building on the common arctic issues of sustainable development and environmental protection—environmental security offers an holistic context to address the risks and opportunities within law of the sea, as the international legal framework to preserve peace and stability in the Arctic Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 2010 the US declared the Lake Erie water snake a recovered species, but in Canada the snake is still considered to be an endangered species. After explaining the legal similarities between the Ontario Endangered Species Act and the American Endangered Species Act, this article examines a case study with landowner interviews from one US island and one Canadian island. It is concluded that landowner attitudes toward conservation and private property are very similar. Thus, it is argued that bureaucratic differences, particularly institutional capacity and implementation styles, enabled the US but not Canada to recover the snake. The article concludes with a discussion of the need for better communication between the two countries for the purposes of biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the creation, significance and progression of the licensing systems employed to regulate whale shark tourism at Ningaloo Marine Park. Since 1993 mandatory whale shark tour operator licences have been offered through an evolving competitive tender process. A content analysis of the evolution of licence requirements revealed a progression from a minimalist approach to one covering a full range of detailed and audited sustainability indicators. A tour operators’ opinion survey was undertaken to understand industry issues and the impacts of the regulatory licensing system. Operators cited the need for business planning and offering a quality experience as their main challenges. Issues included cost pressures from local and global competitors. Few saw their own activities as being an environmental issue, and few saw regulation procedures as an issue. It is argued that further refinement of the licensing system is required to put its operations into a transparent, science-based context, and to offer incentives for improvements to rise above basic compliance. An explicit consideration of the balance between environmental regulation and commercial sustainability is needed to create a situation of perpetual improvement and provide best outcomes for all stakeholders, including operators, the local economy, the environment and guests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual behaviour change is fast becoming a kind of ‘holy grail’ to tackle climate change, in environmental policy, the environmental movement and academic literature. This is contested by those who claim that social structures are the main problem and who advocate collective social action. The objective of the research presented in this paper is to better understand why environmentally concerned citizens choose one of these two types of engagement. Our focus is on the role of experiences of and/or convictions about power in shaping this choice. Within the framework of an explorative qualitative study, we engaged in in-depth interviews with 12 young environmentally concerned citizens. On this basis, five main findings are elaborated. Firstly, powerlessness is shown to be a crucial experience, whatever the respondents’ engagement. Secondly, ‘strategy scepticism’ seems to be a more important obstacle for engagement than ‘climate scepticism’. Thirdly, many respondents express significant resistance towards being ‘conditioned’ by awareness-raising campaigns. Fourthly, a ‘gap’ is observed between respondents’ analysis and their strategy proposals. Finally, we underscore another important gap between concrete and abstract levels in respondents’ discourses. All these findings disclose paradoxical aspects of the role of power in shaping the concerned citizens’ engaged choices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As one of the earliest and deepest cases of neoliberal reform, Chile's political economic model has been the subject of extensive debate. The associated environmental law and policy that emerged in this context has, however, received little attention. The country's environmental policymaking process as well as the character and effects of the environmental regime that emerged are examined. Environmental policymaking has been tightly constrained by institutional and political arrangements that embody neoliberal principles such that legislation only advances when internal demands connect up with global forces. As a result, and despite many regulatory initiatives, the environmental regime expresses a strongly market-enabling quality instead of the market-regulating character commonly ascribed to environmental law and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses environmental laws, conservation land, and sustainability in New Zealand. The author argues that New Zealand has the image of an environmentally friendly country due to global tourism advertising campaigns, the Yale–Columbia University Environmental Performance Index (EPI), and the success of the "Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy. Laws including the Resource Management Act (RMA) of 1991, the National Parks Act of 1980, and the Crown Minerals Act of 1991, the mining industry in New Zealand, and public reaction to laws on mining in conservation lands are examined.

An influential conventional wisdom holds that globalization could induce upward convergence in environmental regulations. Wealthy countries impose environmental regulations that prompt exporters in other countries to adopt sustainable production techniques, so the cost of environmental regulation in these countries decreases. However, previous research has only examined this California Effect for environmental regulations to address domestic externalities. I formally investigate the case of international externalities, such as global warming or ozone depletion. I find that a country can exercise leadership by enacting environmental regulations to strategically induce other countries to regulate in the future, but only if the incentive to free ride is not too strong. Surprisingly, under deep economic integration, environmental regulations are strategic complements with positive spillovers, so that international coordination is necessary to capitalize on the California Effect. In addition to showing that the California Effect is a powerful instrument of environmental statecraft, the results suggest new reasons why liberal trade and investment policies might improve environmental protection. They can also inform a strategy to promote efforts to mitigate global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the problems faced by wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) controls and the organization of consequential activities, giving priority to those stipulated by the regional environmental protection agencies through a hierarchical assessment according to the environmental importance of the pressure sources. The European Recommendation 2001/331/EC bases the environmental controls of industrial sites and WWTPs on an integrated approach surpassing the simple analytic control at the discharge point in the receiving water body. This integrated approach requires documentary, technical, management, and analytic controls. In the last few years, the Veneto Regional Environmental Prevention and Protection Agency (ARPAV-Italy) has developed and applied a protocol and checklist for the implementation of the European Recommendation for WWTPs. The checklist includes the functionality assessment of the WWTP in the cases of discharge control delegation to the plant management as consented in Annex 5, the third part of the Italian Decree 3/04/2006 n. 152. In this article, the general framework of environmental controls on public WWTPs in the Veneto region is described, presenting a proposal for integrated control and the assessment of the behavior of the WWTP discharges, with reference to the stipulated limit values, along with statistical multivariate analysis, with the aim of developing an integrated sustainable interactive management approach (Veerbek and Wind, 2001, Water Resource Management 15:403-421). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the integrity of the emerging emissions allowance markets for greenhouse gases (GHG) under the international emissions trading system created by the Kyoto Protocol and the parallel European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. In particular, we suggest that accepted definitions of emissions baselines, initial allocation of emission credits, verification of “additionality” for GHG reduction beyond what would have occurred without trading, assuring permanence for offset-generating projects, preventing leakage of emissions-generating activities from protected project areas, monitoring, and reporting requirements are problematic. As with previous reforms that also rely on market allocation and expansion of private property rights, GHG trading deflects change in the social relations of production required for more sustainable production while commodifying access to the atmosphere and nature's ability to recycle carbon. Alternatives to this modern-day GHG indulgence system are considered, especially an upstream carbon tax, designed to force change in energy procurement and use. Although we found that most of the conditions required for the efficient operation of the international GHG markets are not being met thus far, further changes in the trading systems are being made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arguments about the need to improve “skills for sustainable communities” have emerged recently in the context of debates around spatial and territorial polices for the EU. This debate has been driven by the UK government as part of its contribution to framing debates around what should follow on from the European Spatial Development Perspective. A programme to shape spatial policy discourse around a skills agenda within EU policy circles was mounted, with considerable UK government support, and this paper explores the success of this attempt, using concepts familiar within environmental policy discourse analysis. We suggest that the attempt met with some success, but achieved a lower level of policy influence than was hoped for, and the paper goes on to examine the reasons for this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the legislative process and in particular how this relates to environment in Latin America. This article attemps to partially close this gap by discussing the dynamics of congressional environmental politics in Chile under former President Lagos (2000-2006). At first, this article discusses the role of the executive branch in the legislative process, congressional authority and environmental policy. This sometimes uneasy relationship is explored, and its consequences over environmental politics are discussed. The second part of the article attempts to explain legislator's choices in the area of environmental policy, developing and testing four main hypotheses that eventually help to explain why legislators support/reject laws of positive/negative environmental relevance. Finally, this article draws general conclusions on Chilean congressional politics and environmental policy, to then propose some recommendations on how to improve the process of creating environmental policy in Congress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through its policies and actions in sustainable agriculture and renewable energy technology, and socially just development, Cuba continues to revitalise the meaning of sustainable development and has earned international acclaim for its efforts toward a more sustainable society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Environment Act of 1995 (Part IV) requires local authorities to review and assess air quality in their area of jurisdiction and to determine locations where concentrations of defined pollutants exceed. The ongoing review and assessment process is one of the largest locally based science policy and science consultation initiatives undertaken in the UK. Combining a questionnaire-based survey with in depth case studies has allowed an exploration of the process and the development of better practice guidance for such consultation initiatives. The research suggests that while there are no simple solutions to the dilemma of how best to engage the public in such consultations, there are steps that can be taken to improve consultation. Key factors that facilitate local community participation in such processes include a well-informed and adequately resourced local community and an explicit connection between participatory and decision-making processes. Although the research focused on local air quality management as a case study of consultation mechanisms, the outcomes will be relevant to other locally based environmental management issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the intent of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, many states have adopted policies and procedures directing state agencies and local government units to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of development projects prior to their undertaking. In contrast to a rich literature on federal requirements, current understanding of state environmental review is narrowly focused and outdated. This paper seeks to provide information on the landscape of state environmental review policy frameworks. The paper identifies 37 states with formal environmental review requirements through a document review of state statutes, administrative rules and agency-prepared materials, and confirms this finding through a survey of state administrators. A two-tier classification is used to distinguish states based on the approach taken to address environmental review needs and the scope and depth of relevant policies and procedures implemented. This paper also provides a discussion of policy and programme attributes that may contribute to effective practice, and of the potential for adopting relevant legislation in states where environmental review is currently lacking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency''s Self-Policing Policy (more commonly referred to as the Audit Policy) waives or reduces penalties when companies voluntarily discover, disclose, and correct environmental violations. One goal of the Audit Policy is to encourage companies to conduct environmental audits in order to identify poor environmental performance. Thus, the regulatory flexibility associated with the Audit Policy should reduce subsequent chemical emissions. While several studies examine predictors of the Audit Policy, no studies examine if facilities that use the Policy decrease their chemical emissions as a result. The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of the Audit Policy on changes in Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) emissions among a sample of 178 facilities operating in the chemical and allied product industry. The results of that analysis suggest that facilities that use the policy have similar subsequent emissions trends as facilities that do not use the policy. Moreover, the results also suggest that formal enforcement actions are the best predictor of TRI reductions. These findings persist despite other regulator and company controls. In terms of environmental policy, the results suggest that self-policing may not improve or deteriorate environmental performance in the chemical and allied products industry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The architecture of the Kyoto Protocol gives the private sector a central role to play. It will most probably continue to occupy an important place in the post-2012 climate regime. However one essential aspect for private investors is often overlooked during the ongoing climate talks: the protection of low- carbon investments against regulatory changes by host countries. Investors' perception that the `rules of the game' governing their investment could change may make it more difficult and more expensive to attract low-carbon investments thereby compromising the goal of emission reductions. This article identifies risks of regulatory changes that are inherent to the regulations designed to promote renewable energy sources and energy efficiency, as well as to implement the flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. It analyses the extent to which the protection standards of international investment law offer adequate protection against these changes but also questions if these same standards represent a threat to the implementation of national climate policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]