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This article provides updates on various environmental issues and legislation, including Private Members' Bills in the UK Parliament addressing marine biodiversity conservation, heritage tree protection, and water quality monitoring. It also discusses the outcomes of COP28, highlighting fossil fuel emissions as a driver of climate change. The article mentions ongoing legal challenges related to the UK's National Adaptation Programme and the development of the Rosebank North Sea oilfield. It concludes with a summary of recent domestic case law related to environmental information disclosure. The article is concise, factually accurate, and respectful of diverse perspectives, making it suitable for library patrons conducting research on these specific topics. [Extracted from the article]

Environmental sustainability has been a key policy goal of the European Union (EU), particularly under recent EU Cohesion Policy strategic frameworks. This paper contributes to the analysis of the relevance of EU Cohesion Policy-related environmental sustainability investments, by assessing the impacts of the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Use of Resources (POSEUR 2014–2020), in the Portuguese North NUTS II. In detail, the impact scores of the following five analytical dimensions related to this programme were obtained: (i) low-emissions economy, (ii) adaptation to climate change, (iii) risk prevention and management, (iv) environmental protection and (v) resource efficiency. The analysis was supported by a territorial impact assessment methodology (TARGET_TIA) which was complemented by an online analytic geographic information system (GIS) policy evaluation platform (Impact-WEB_GIS). The results showed that the POSEUR's regional implementation efficiency fell short of the stakeholders' expectations. This can be explained by factors such as the obstacles posed by the prior underdeveloped infrastructural conditions, coupled with the panorama created by the Covid-19 outbreak. Nonetheless, the risk prevention and management dimension had a solid positive impact score that reflected the efficacy of POSEUR in tackling environmental threats, mostly in rural ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32022D1244&qid=1666536011124 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1203 of 12 July 2022 amending Implementing Regul... Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1141 (2) establishes a list of invasive alien species of Union concern ("the Union list"), which is to be kept updated as appropriate, in accordance with Article 4(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32022R1203&qid=1666536011124 Commission Decision (EU) 2022/1229 of 11 July 2022 amending Decisions 2014/312/EU, 2014/391/E... Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 provides that the EU Ecolabel may be awarded to products with a reduced environmental impact during their entire life cycle. Keywords: Environmental law; Environmental policy; EU law; Environment; European Union EN Environmental law Environmental policy EU law Environment European Union 321 342 22 12/06/22 20221201 NES 221201 EDITORIAL Amidst what was a plethora of resignations and subsequent appointments (many times over) and a virtual rotating door of Prime Ministers it is surprising that any meaningful work was done in respect of the environment. Https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/architect-paris-agreement-discusses-nexus-law-and-climate-change "UK environment laws under threat in "deregulatory free-for-all"", The Guardian, 23 September... Hundreds of Britain's environmental laws covering water quality, sewage pollution, clean air, habitat protections and the use of pesticides are lined up for removal from UK law under a government bill. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/23/uk-environment-laws-under-threat-in-deregulatory-free-for-all. [Extracted from the article]

Keywords: Environmental law; Environmental policy; EU law; Subject; Environment; Other related subjects; European Union EN Environmental law Environmental policy EU law Subject Environment Other related subjects European Union 52 81 30 03/22/22 20220301 NES 220301 EDITORIAL The government's beleaguered flagship I Environment Act 2021 i has finally received royal assent. Https://www.bailii.org/scot/cases/ScotCS/2021/2021 CSOH 112.html EU CASE LAW PlasticsEurope v European Chemicals Agency, Appeal C-876/19 P, Judgment of the Court (Ninth C... The European Court of Justice dismissed a final appeal by the trade association PlasticsEurope against EU regulators' decision to class bisphenol-A (BPA) as a "substance of very high concern" due to its endocrine disrupting properties. Https://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?language=en&td=ALL&num=C-373/20 Biofa AG v Sikma D. Vertriebs GmbH und Co. KG, C-29/20, Judgment of the Court (First Chamber)... This request for a preliminary ruling concerned the interpretation of Articles 3(1)(a) and 9(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 concerning the making available on the market and use of biocidal products. [Extracted from the article]

The past decade has been a dynamic one for biodiversity offsetting policy. Efforts to incorporate offsetting into the Convention on Biological Diversity as a compliance mechanism did not succeed. The expansion of offsetting outside of the Natura 2000 network in the European Union (EU), which looked all but inevitable in the early 2010s, was withdrawn in the face of unexpectedly strong opposition from environmental groups and the business sector. Highly publicised offsetting programmes in some EU countries have had mixed outcomes, and many observers describe offsetting as a failed policy. And yet four years of interviews and policy analysis in Brussels, Spain, and England suggest that reports of offsetting's death may be exaggerated. While the possibility of an overarching EU Directive aimed at harmonising offsetting policy and practice across the region's countries seems unlikely, in Spain, offsetting has returned to the national policy arena via adoption as an implementation tool within the national Green Infrastructure Strategy. Offsetting in England persists in a handful of counties as a locally situated development strategy, and seems to have returned at the national level despite its spectacular flame‐out in 2014. This is not, after all, a high‐profile failure of neoliberal environmental policy. Rather, we see offsetting's persistence as a result of policy refugia: the retreat to small but amenable jurisdictions where offsetting policies can wait out inclement policy conditions and then emerge to recolonise the policy landscape when conditions improve. Highly publicised offsetting programmes in some EU countries have had mixed outcomes, and many observers describe offsetting as a failed policy. However, our analysis of offset policy development in the EU, Spain, and England suggests that offsetting has not failed but persists as a result of policy refugia: it has retreated to small but amenable jurisdictions from which it can emerge to recolonise the policy landscape as conditions improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: Environmental law; Environmental policy; EU law Subject: Environment; Other related subjects: European Union; Subject; Environment; Other related subjects; European Union EN Environmental law Environmental policy EU law Subject: Environment Other related subjects: European Union Subject Environment Other related subjects European Union 306 342 37 01/22/21 20201201 NES 201201 EDITORIAL Autumn has sprung, lockdowns have withered into tiered restrictions and the government has produced a flurry of secondary legislation at a volume and rate previously unheard of. Regulations 4, 5 and 6 introduce Sch. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/631, Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/1388 and Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/1447. The 2009 Regulations provide for the execution and enforcement of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 on official controls and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products. Https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32020R1315&qid=1603734672508 Council Decision (EU) 2020/1325 of 21 September 2020 on the position to be taken on behalf of... The position to be taken on behalf of the EU will be to approve the application of the UK to join the Convention on Future Multilateral Cooperation in the North-East Atlantic Fisheries. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32020D1325&qid=1603734672508 Council Regulation (EU) 2020/1323 of 21 September 2020 amending Regulation (EU) 2020/123 as r... The Regulation places limitations on fishing for Spain, Portugal and the general Union in subareas 9 and 10 of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea and division 34.1.1 of the Fishery Committee for the Central Atlantic. [Extracted from the article]

Keywords: Environmental law; environmental policy; EU law Subject: Environment; Other related subjects: European Union EN Environmental law environmental policy EU law Subject: Environment Other related subjects: European Union 49 74 26 04/11/20 20200301 NES 200301 EDITORIAL The international campaign against climate change has reached new heights this quarter, as 16 children from across the world have collectively filed a legal complaint to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, alleging that the failure of their home countries to properly tackle climate change is a violation of their rights under the Convention, including their rights to life and health. The fishing of Turbot is limited to 180 fishing days per year per vessel, regardless of size. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1580225241289&uri=CELEX:32019R2236 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/2201 of 1 October 2019 supplementing Regulation (EU... The Regulation implements detailed rules for the real-time closure of fisheries in the Skagerrak with the aim of conserving juvenile Northern prawn. Https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1580225241289&uri=CELEX:32020D0115(01) Commission Decision (EU) 2019/2252 of 17 December 2019 on the proposed citizens' initiative e... Under EU law, the removal of fins on board of EU vessels and in EU waters is prohibited and sharks must be landed with their fins naturally attached. Although this is one-sixth of the area burnt in 2017, significant 36 per cent of the areas burnt were vulnerable ecosystems. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip 19 6176 Agreement on EU budget for 2020: Tackling climate change and delivering on other EU prioritie... On 18 November 2019, three EU institutions agreed on the EU's budget for 2020. [Extracted from the article]

This paper examines the potential impact of the European Union’s Environmental Liability Directive (ELD)1 on the nanotechnology (NT) sector. In terms of risk governance the ELD represents a new paradigm, affording the environment an enhanced status both in legal and indeed ontological terms. However, the nature of the NT industry itself is such as to create complexity in the implementation of the ELD. Whilst the field of nano-toxicology is making advances, debate still prevails around issues pertaining to exposure, (eco)-toxicity, metrics, potential impact and legal causation. Levels of uncertainty remain high and hence measuring environmental impact is problematic. The paper addresses the potential environmental liability exposures of NT manufacturers and producers pursuant to the provisions of the ELD and by extension highlights the importance of the insurability of the liability risk all of which bears significance for the sustainability of the industry. It also examines the legal and regulatory challenges of the application of the ELD in the context of the NT industry, highlighting the challenges which this pervasive technology presents for regulatory policy. A cursory discussion of the legal theoretical underpinning of the directive helps to explain the rationale of the directive. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the 1990s, increasing environmental concerns have spurred the need for information and stimulated the development of numerous indicators, yet without a real impact on corresponding policies. To better account for this weakness, a political sociology approach to analyze how these government tools was developed in two cases: the French generic system of sustainable development indicators; and the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive based on indicators of water status. Comparative analysis shows that in both cases a coalition of actors successfully resisted the effective use of indicators by redesigning them and limiting the impact of quantified environmental information on policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Why do some governments have more environmentally friendly policies than others? Part of the answer involves governing parties’ ideological positions on environmentalism and the constraints imposed by executive institutions. Here, this party-based explanation is elaborated and tested with uniquely comparable indicators of national environmental policies for governments in 27 countries in the European Union (EU). The findings show that governments with parties that emphasized environmental protection in their manifestos are more likely to propose pro-environment policies during EU-level negotiations. However, the effect of ideology is mediated by the centralization of the national executive branch. In centralized national executives, the environmental positions of prime ministers’ parties affect policies, while in decentralized national executives, the positions of environment ministers’ parties are relevant. The findings have implications for understanding the impact of parties’ environmental positions on government policies, as well as for policy making in coalitions more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) is widely assumed to be a global environmental leader, especially in addressing climate change, though this reputation suffered greatly when European leaders were sidelined during the 2009 United Nations Climate Summit in Copenhagen. Subsequently, however, the EU has made significant progress in extending its Emission Trading System to the aviation sector, one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and did so not only regionally, but also managed to get it onto the global policy agenda. This contribution investigates the EU's role in shaping the 2013 International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) resolution committing 191 government signatories to developing a global market-based measure to cap international aviation's carbon pollution. While not exactly setting new environmental standards or achieving definitive regulatory success, the case illustrates the agenda-setting capacity of the EU through leveraging its market power and adopting an explicitly extra-territorial rule to induce potential regulatory co-operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union's (EU's) regulations affect how business is conducted and consumers and the environment protected in parts of the world far beyond its borders. Moreover, the external impact of its regulations informs understandings of the EU as a global actor. This contribution makes three main arguments. First, the EU's regulatory influence varies systematically across different forms of regulatory interaction: regulatory competition and different forms of regulatory co-operation. The form of regulatory interaction, therefore, is a critical intervening variable between the EU's regulatory power resources and its influence. Second, within the different forms of regulatory co-operation the EU's influence varies in line with expectations derived from the literature. But, third, the magnitude of the EU's influence seems to be considerably less in regulatory co-operation than suggested by the literature on regulatory competition; a finding that reinforces the first argument. The contribution also introduces the rest of the special issue, identifying three overarching conclusions: the utility of the EU's regulatory power resources is context specific; debates about what kind of power the EU is, at least as previously conceived, are unproductive; and that the EU's engagement in the world is better explained through general theories of international political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) is usually described as a promoter of global environmental governance, committed to sustainability and the precautionary principle. Regarding international fisheries management, however, the EU has repeatedly deviated from these principles. This article analyses the EU's policy in two Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs): the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). The EU's deviation from its environmental principles is explained by the weakness of the pro-environmental advocacy coalition in the EU's fisheries policy subsystem and the overcapacity of the EU's fleet, which first arose when European fishing nations were excluded from traditional fishing grounds during the creation of Exclusive Economic Zones in the 1970s. At the same time the article finds evidence of a trend towards sustainability and precaution in the EU's external fisheries policy since the mid-2000s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the response of managers, in the case where the government incorporates certain environmental criteria into public procurement. Some research hypotheses are statistically tested in order to identify the extent of managers' understanding regarding Green Public Procurement mainly under the severe financial conditions of the current economic crisis, during which time public expenditures should gradually be cut due to the flagship policy of the European Union for severe austerity measures. The data were taken from various pieces of research carried out in Greece and Cyprus, two countries which are suffering from an economic crisis and are operating under economic supervision with severe austerity measures. The study highlights that given the current economic climate, managers consider the Green Public Procurement a very weak tool to encourage the adoption of environmental management practices due to the austerity measures and budgetary cuts. They also claimed that the classical policy tools (e.g. environmental legislation and market-based instruments) might shape an unsustainable environment for their future operations and additional measures would force them out of market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid accusations of tax avoidance directed towards some of the world's largest multinationals, governments around the globe have started to act. Triggered by the 2010 US Dodd-Frank Act (Section 1504), the EU passed ambitious legislation in June 2013 on transparency. In this article I discuss those policies, along with extractive industries initiatives. I argue that transparency norms should be extended to environmental pressures. A driving force could be the vision of increasing revenues and public investments for green economies in resource-rich developing countries, with global prosperity stemming from increasing resource efficiency and lowering environmental risks along international value chains. Accordingly, I develop two scenarios for the future: a "realistic" one with limited participation, weak enforcement, and cumulated ensuing risks; and an "opportunity" scenario, which involves taking opportunities for cooperation and resource efficiency. Finally, I draw conclusions and provide recommendations toward a global environmental politics with a strong transparency component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses aspects of the agricultural-environmental policies in Europe. Topics include the key player in environmental and agricultural policies that target nutrient loads is the European Union (EU), the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) offers the basis for agricultural nonpoint source policies, and the Nitrates Directive in the Netherlands was to implement the Mineral Accounting System (MINAS).

Towards the end of the last decade, the European Union passed a regulation banning seal products from the European common market. The final legislation deviated from the European Commission's more flexible proposal on key issues, and was therefore not an obvious outcome. Why did the Commission choose to support a conditional ban on seal products in the original proposal, and then why did the European Parliament later reverse the proposal in the second round. To explain the two different outcomes, the types of arguments put forward in the negotiations are analysed and their effectiveness at the different stages of the process is assessed. By identifying four ideal-types of arguments adhering to one of four logics, namely, appropriateness, justification, arguing, or consequentiality, I illustrate how arguments made following the logic of arguing were the most effective in the Commission, while arguments pertaining to a logic of appropriateness were most important in the Parliament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the emergence of a decentralized institutional complex, interplay management, and the institutional interplay between the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the EU in the issue area of environmental shipping policies. It shows that the synergistic relationship between both institutions has been driven primarily by commitment and compliance mechanisms. By influencing IMO decision-making and improving the implementation and effectiveness of IMO conventions, the EU has become a driving force in international environmental shipping policies, and its new initiatives may even enhance its leadership role within the IMO in the future. Despite the still-existing lack of cognitive leadership by the EU, the synergies between both institutions provide evidence for the EU's leadership capacities in global environmental politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For obtaining type approval in the European Union, light-duty vehicles have to comply with emission limits during standardized laboratory emissions testing. Although emission limits have become more stringent in past decades, light-duty vehicles remain an important source of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide emissions in Europe. Furthermore, persisting air quality problems in many urban areas suggest that laboratory emissions testing may not accurately capture the on-road emissions of light-duty vehicles. To address this issue, we conduct the first comprehensive on-road emissions test of light-duty vehicles with state-of-the-art Portable Emission Measurement Systems. We find that nitrogen oxides emissions of gasoline vehicles as well as carbon monoxide and total hydrocarbon emissions of both diesel and gasoline vehicles generally remain below the respective emission limits. By contrast, nitrogen oxides emissions of diesel vehicles (0.93 ± 0.39 grams per kilometer [g/km]), including modern Euro 5 diesel vehicles (0.62 ± 0.19 g/km), exceed emission limits by 320 ± 90%. On-road carbon dioxide emissions surpass laboratory emission levels by 21 ± 9%, suggesting that the current laboratory emissions testing fails to accurately capture the on-road emissions of light-duty vehicles. Our findings provide the empirical foundation for the European Commission to establish a complementary emissions test procedure for light-duty vehicles. This procedure could be implemented together with more stringent Euro 6 emission limits in 2014. The envisaged measures should improve urban air quality and provide incentive for innovation in the automotive industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concentration permits are regarded as an interesting policy tool for regulating emissions where, besides absolute amounts, also local concentration is important. However, effects of governance structure, trading system and possible policy interventions in the permits' allocation are not yet well analysed and understood. This paper explores in how far tradable fertilisation standards can be seen as a concentration permit trading (CPT) system which can be fine-tuned for further policy intervention. Indeed fertilisation standards such as obliged by the EU Nitrate Directive can be regarded as local nitrate emissions limits, and thus concentration permits. A multi-agent spatial allocation model is used to simulate the impact of defining the manure problem in terms of concentration permits rather than conventional emission permits. Impacts are simulated in terms of environmental performance and increased reallocation costs. The model is applied on the Flemish manure problem. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on the European Union (EU) Directive on Industrial Emissions reforms for pollution control. It mentions that the directive aims to implement a holistic integrated approach for pollution control in industrial activities and seeks to address issues faced by the Directives on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control. It states that the directive requires Members States to strengthen the policy of issuing permits for industries.

Besides the more conventional top-down leverage and bottom-up linkage approach, the European Union (EU) uses a third way to promote democracy in third countries: promotion of democratic governance through functional cooperation in policy sectors. This governance model of democracy promotion has so far been studied only with regard to its effectiveness in target countries. In contrast to earlier research, this contribution takes an ‘input’ perspective and asks whether adverse sectoral economic interests prevent the EU from consistent democratic governance promotion. Based on three case studies from the two policy sectors of environmental and fisheries policy, the contribution concludes that EU democratic governance promotion is indeed inconsistent when sectoral economic interests are at stake. The governance model is thus subject to the same pattern of inconsistency as the leverage and linkage model with regard to economic interests. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Procedure for Institutional Compatibility Assessment (PICA) has been developed as a formalised methodology to predict the compatibility between a policy option and the institutional context of its implementation. As a first empirical test of the tool, PICA was applied to the implementation of the EUNitrate Directive in Auvergne, France. Valuable insights were acquired on thecombination of experts and stakeholders' perspectives and the choice of qualitative methods for the collection of the information needed at each step ofthe assessment. Further, this procedure proved to be a valuable tool for the ex-ante identification of institutional factors affecting the implementation of policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) explicitly integrates economics into water management and water policy in Europe. Specifically, Article 11 and Annex III of the Directive call for a cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) of alternative mitigation measures as a requirement in formulating Programme of Measures (PoMs) to achieve ‘good ecological status’ for all waters in Europe. As agriculture is supposed to be the major contributor to diffuse water pollution, CEA of agri-environmental measures has been given paramount importance in establishing the PoMs. This paper summarises the status, significance, and methodological limitations of WFD-related CEA studies in Europe. Cases from the United Kingdom, countries surrounding the Baltic Sea and central and southern Europe were included in the review. Review results indicate that most WFD-related CEA studies: (1) were based on models of ‘representative’ farms without capturing the variability among real-world farms; (2) concentrate on a single ecological effect of measures or are based on cost estimates of the sectors directly involved in the pollutant-reduction programme (i.e., co-benefits, trade-offs, and external costs were not examined); and (3) did not incorporate uncertainties in both cost and effectiveness estimates. Based on the review results, the paper suggests policy implications and recommendations for future research in the field. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Although the significance of sustainable municipal energy management has not yet been widely recognized in Ukraine, important steps to popularize this idea among local authorities have been taken through the introduction of the Display® campaign in 11 Ukrainian municipalities. This European voluntary energy and environmental performance certification system of buildings aims to encourage local authorities to publicly demonstrate the energy and environmental performance of their buildings and to thereby convince citizens to stop wasting energy and water. This paper analyzes to what extent the campaign has been valuable for sustainable energy management in those Ukrainian cities that have set an example of an active bottom-up approach to enhancing the integration of a former Soviet Union country in the European Union on account of their support of the associations Energy Cities and 'Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine', as well as their own endeavors to implement EU climate protection policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution explores the European Union's (EU) efforts to 'globalize' EU environmental regulation. EU leadership on global environmental governance emerged as a result of the combined effects of domestic politics and international regulatory competition. The growing power of environmental interests in Europe from the late 1980s, coupled with dynamics of EU policy-making, led the EU to commit to ambitious environmental policies. Given this commitment, it was in the EU's international competitive interests to support international agreements that would pressure other jurisdictions to adopt similar environmental regulations. Promoting treaties that spread EU environmental norms internationally also served to legitimize EU rules and to shield them from legal challenges before world trade bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demonstrating how the political sociology approach to policy instruments generates new insights even in densely studied areas, this article investigates the evolution of policy instruments and the link between policy instruments and policy change in EU environmental policy over the past three decades. Examination of the politics of choice and combination of policy instruments reveals, first, that EU environmental policy is primarily structured by its instruments. Second, the article argues that, contrary to those in the literature who have claimed a pioneering role for the Union in this field, EU environmental policy is populated not by new or innovative policy instruments, but by instruments mainly derived from the member states or other international organisations. Third, it argues that the EU's tendency to import measures from elsewhere explains the apparent contradiction between the EU's policy activism, on the one hand, and the modest domestic impact of EU legislation, on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A range of EU environmental policies support the goal of reducing fossil-fuel use in commercial thermal applications. Combustion installations which are covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme now face a substantial opportunity cost for fossil-fuel CO2 emissions. However, it is unclear whether the EU ETS will provide a sufficient incentive for switching to forest-derived biomass fuel by energy-intensive installations currently firing on coal or peat. Using Ireland as a case study, the paper analyses the availability and cost competitiveness of forest residues produced within the vicinity of three cement kilns. EU Allowance prices observed during much of 2007 and 2008 would appear to be sufficient to equalise the carbon-adjusted purchase costs between chipped pulpwood and bituminous coal. However, no such fuel switching has been observed to date by kiln operators and none appears to be envisaged. The apparent reasons for this include (1) a ready availability of cheaper substitute fuels such as Meat and Bone Meal; (2) technical issues regarding the chemical consistency of the woodchip; and (3) the prospect of pulpwood prices rising in the medium term due a growing supply shortage. The prospect of such a constraint is an unintended consequence of Irish government policy to promote biomass co-firing in peat-fired power stations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper explores the topic of genetically modified organisms (hereafter GMOs) and focuses on national and international regulatory approaches to this field. The analysis herein addresses a multitude of interconnected issues on GMOs as the authors' intention is to explain how a policy problem that is environmental in nature can generate debates and consequences that go beyond the realm and scope of environmental policy. Each of the sections of the paper could be expanded into an autonomous paper. The discussion herein is framed using a comparative case study analysis. The US domestic policy on GMOs is contrasted against the EU policy. These two domestic policies are relevant as they represent the two main contemporary approaches to how GMOs are to be regulated. Furthermore, the clash between the two powers with regard to GMOs is described and explained. Its relevance stems from the profound consequences it generates within the international arena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Research on climate change has intensified on a global scale as evidence on the costs of global warming continues to accumulate. Confronted with such evidence, the European Union set in late 2006 an ambitious target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, by 2020, to 20% below the level of 1990; and invited the rest of the developed economies and the developing world to take part with the Kyoto Protocol. Turkey is the only country that appears in the Annex-I list of the United Nations’ Rio Summit and yet an official target for CO2 emission reductions has still not been established. Thus, as part of its accession negotiations with the EU, Turkey will likely to face significant pressures to introduce its national plan on climate change along with specific emission targets and the associated abatement policies. Given this motivation, we utilize a computable general equilibrium model for Turkey to study the economic impacts of the intended policy scenarios of compliance with the Kyoto Protocol and we report on the general equilibrium effects of various possible environmental abatement policies in Turkey over the period 2006–2020. The model is in the Walrasian tradition with 10 production sectors and a government operating within an open macroeconomy environment. It accommodates flexible production functions, imperfect substitution in trade and open unemployment. We focus on CO2 emissions and distinguish various basic sources of gaseous pollution in the model. Our results suggest that the burden of imposing emission control targets and the implied abatement costs could be quite high, and that there is a need to finance the expanded abatement investments from scarce domestic resources. Policies for environmental abatement via carbon and/or increased energy taxes further suffer from very adverse employment effects. This suggests that a first-best policy would necessarily call for a simultaneous reduction on the existing tax burden on producers elsewhere together with introduction of environmental taxes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The neoliberalisation of international climate policy through devices such as emissions trading has led to a significant restructuring of governance competencies between supranational, national and non-state actors. This article explores the implications of this restructuring for the scalar politics of climate governance by examining the European Union emissions trading scheme, the world's largest multi-state carbon-trading scheme. Analysis shows that although the member states were prepared to accede to a common legal framework for emissions trading, its implementation has been characterised by intense sovereignty disputes over emissions allowances. The article concludes by reflecting on the scalar politics of international climate governance in an unevenly regulated and competitive world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Directive 2002/95/EC, the Restriction of Hazardous Substances or ‘RoHS’ Directive, restricts the use of environmentally hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment distributed and sold in the EU from 1 July 2006. The Directive's objectives are to harmonize EU Member States’ national legislation and protect human health and the environment. This article reveals differences in the implementation of the RoHS Directive at the time it took effect. Differences were revealed in the analysis of results obtained from telephone interviews conducted with all but four of the 25 EU Member State RoHS enforcement officials. Differences in implementation created barriers to the achievement of the RoHS Directive's objectives and caused problems for producers of electrical and electronic equipment. The article attributes the principal cause of differences in implementation to insufficiently detailed text in the RoHS Directive. The article also considers how barriers and problems could have been prevented and makes proposals to solve them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) is searching for new approaches to manage problems that span different policy sectors. In the regional policy field, incompatibilities between the EU's territorial development objectives and its transport, agricultural, competition and environmental policies, are well known. The need to integrate territorial policy concerns into these sectoral policies (territorial policy integration or "TPI") has recently emerged as a key policy priority. This article examines the EU's capacity to implement TPI. It does so in relation to two member states (Germany and the Netherlands) and the European Commission. It finds that the administrative implications of implementing TPI are far more demanding than any of these actors are currently able to handle. Moreover, some EU-level networks are potentially relevant to TPI, but these are mostly focused on regional policy matters (i.e. they are relatively inward looking). If these administrative issues are not taken more seriously, "integration" will struggle to make headway in an EU which is notoriously sectorized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policymaking within and among states is under pressure for change. One feature of this change is empirically observed as an activation of different network structures in the Baltic Sea Region, especially since the collapse of the Iron Curtain, the initiation of the Rio process, and the enlargement of the European Union. The contemporary theoretical debates about governance highlight the changing conditions for policymaking and implementation on all societal levels. This process of change, especially evident concerning environmental policies, includes new types of networks crossing state borders both at the supranational and the subnational levels. This article illuminates this process of change with empirical data from the project "Governing a Common Sea" (GOVCOM) within the Baltic Sea Research Program (BIREME). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disposal of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) is a relatively new focus of the European policy community. Technical requirements for car design and minimum reuse and recovery rates for end-of-life vehicles are the subject of a recent European Union directive on ELVs. This directive is expected to induce changes in the infrastructure required for ELV processing, and presents a substantial challenge to maintaining such an infrastructure as economically viable. This paper assesses current and emerging ELV recycling technologies, in order to provide guidelines for the development of future ELV recycling strategies. Emphasis is given to technologies dedicated to automobile shredder residue (ASR) recovery, as an alternative/complement to more labor-intensive dismantling activities. The ultimate goal is to develop a vision of the type of ASR processing technology that could emerge in the future. The analysis is based on a model developed to simulate ELV processing infrastructures, and shredding data are taken from full-scale experiments. The results obtained show that ASR mechanical separation and recycling technologies may enable more extensive recycling and contribute to achieving European Union recycling targets, and can thus be considered as far more promising than technologies based on energy recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union's position on the incorporation of emissions trading into the Kyoto Protocol presents an interesting puzzle. The EU opposed American efforts to integrate international emissions trading into the Protocol. However, after 1998 the EU gradually emerged as one of the primary innovators in developing both its internal trading program as well as the international one. How do we explain the transformation of the EU position on trading? The conflict over emissions trading was intimately tied to normative debates surrounding the appropriateness of mechanisms to achieve GHG emission reductions. The EU advocated a norm requiring states to undertake domestic policy changes as the only legitimate mechanisms to reduce domestic emissions. The United States on the other hand argued that the international response had to be guided by the principle of economic efficiency. By 1998, the European Union and most of its member states had accepted that emissions trading offered a viable mechanism to reduce the costs of achieving emission reductions. However, its prior efforts to frame international emissions trading as an illegitimate mechanism constrained the EU's ability to alter its position. It was only after the United States rejected the Kyoto Protocol that the EU was able to promote emissions trading as a legitimate strategy to meet the Kyoto target. The EU reframed the issue of emissions trading from an illegitimate American attempt to shirk domestic responsibilities into a legitimate strategy to salvage the Kyoto Protocol without American participation. This shift in framing was a necessary condition to permit the EU to establish a leading position in the development of the international emissions trading mechanism. This case study of preference change offers evidence of the important role that international normative debates and issue framing can play in international environmental policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union has introduced Community-wide emissions trading between emitters on 1 January 2005. Emitters covered by the trading scheme need a permit for their CO2 emissions and have to surrender an allowance for each emitted tonne of CO2. Allowances are allocated by the states and are freely tradeable. As the total amount of the allowances is bound by each country's reduction obligation, legal and political battles for a share of the rare allowances are inevitable. It is doubtful whether the trading scheme meets the requirements of the Community's fundamental rights. National and Community courts will have to examine this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ‘wider Europe’ initiative opens the possibility for a far-reaching association of the EU's eastern and southern European neighbours which, by offering ‘everything but institutions’ (Prodi), proposes an alternative to membership. This article presents this initiative as part of an ambitious external governance agenda by the enlarged Union with the aim to manage its new interdependence in an altered geopolitical context. Focusing on the conception of interdependence and the institutional configuration of EU relations with its near abroad, external governance is defined and examined in three prominent 'soft security' issues: justice and home affairs, environmental and energy policy. It is argued that external governance seeks to expand the 'legal boundary of the Union with only limited openings of its ‘institutional boundary’, thereby oscillating between an inclusionary and exclusionary approach towards its near abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes the potential effects of the European Union (EU) enlargement on environmental governance. Implications of the enlargement for EU environmental governance from a historical-institutionalist perspective; Differences of EU environmental governance regimes; Discussion of environmental problems and policy in Central and Eastern European countries.

ABSTRACT In the environmental federalism literature it is argued that the optimal level of environmental quality varies widely across jurisdictions and that welfare losses associated with enforcing a harmonised uniform standard is quite large. Greater leeway for tailoring environmental standards to local circumstances are therefore in order. In this paper Member States’ possibilities to implement a higher level of environmental protection than the harmonized EU level are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To comply with EU recycling targets for packaging waste, the UK relies on an industry run and market based eco-tax levied by reprocessors on obligated businesses. After examining the details of this approach, the use of Packaging Waste Recovery Notes is assessed in terms of its allocative impact and the contribution made to eco-efficiency. The evidence indicates the UK system has minimized the cost of delivering current EU targets, but has not been able to deliver allocative efficiency or to demonstrate dynamic improvements in resource use. Its effectiveness in meeting impending higher targets remains open to question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the key challenges for climate policies is the identification of strategies that will effectively support the implementation of environmental goals. Environmental policies are connected with other development policies carried out by governments. In order to comprehensively shape environmental policy, it is important to understand the interactions between sustainable development goals (SDGs) as well as their impact on environmental goals. Employing econometric modeling based on the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) method and full-factorial analysis, the authors identify a number of statistically significant relationships between the implementation of sustainable development goals and the environmental variable represented by greenhouse gas emissions. Analysis reveals that implementation of particular sustainable development goals, namely SDG4 (Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities) and SDG17 (Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development), explicitly facilitate the achievement of environmental policies. In addition, other SDGs exert an indirect influence on environmental goals through their reinforcing interactions with SDG4 and SDG17 variables. These are: SDG1 (End poverty), SDG3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being), SDG8 (Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, and productive employment) and SDG15 (Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests and halt biodiversity loss). These findings have important implications for proper identification of effective government policy instruments which indirectly support the achievement of environmental goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the European Union (EU) environmental policy discussions throughout 2013 will be focused on the issue of clean air.

The article reports on the announcement of Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), which states that residents in Taipei and Kaohsiung can now track noise level online. According to the article, the noise tracking device is called the Lima, a software package that classified sound distribution through color codes and graphs. In addition, the act is in accordance with the mandate from European Union to monitor noise levels in order to improve the quality of life in the cities.

The article focuses on the need for the European Union (EU) to revise the directive regulating the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops. The idea was raised after EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas inappropriately overturned the recommendation of his scientific advisers and plans to reject the applications for two GM varieties of insect- and herbicide-resistant maize from Sygenta AG and Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. EU countries anticipate that the revision will limit the use of political motives in analyzing applications for GM crops.