Will the new EU taxonomy bring stricter ecological requirements for hydropower?
By Suvi-Tuuli Puharinen & Antti Belinskij. Puharinen is a PhD researcher and Belinskij is Professor of Environmental Law at the Center for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law of the University of Eastern Finland. Both contribute to the SUSHYDRO -project financed by the Academy of Finland. This blog post is based on the Finnish language […]
Taking stock of EU climate governance: key challenges
By Sebastian Oberthür. Photo by Giovanni Bianchi on Unsplash. EU climate governance has made significant progress over the past years, including an acceleration under the European Commission’s European Green Deal launched in 2019. Nevertheless, the European Union still has a long way to go to realise the climate and sustainability transition, which will require perseverance […]
Opening the black box of transparency in multilateral climate governance
by Harro van Asselt and Ellycia Harrould-Kolieb. Photo by Nuno Silva on Unsplash. Transparency has become a buzzword of the 21st century, including in the context of global governance. International regimes governing a wide array of societal challenges, from arms control to trade, and human rights to the environment, have created formal and informal processes […]
Using the Paris Agreement to strengthen action on methane
by Veera Pekkarinen. This article was first published in IISD/SDG Knowledge Hub on 13 January 2021. Photo by veeterzy on Unsplash. Methane can be characterized as a “super-pollutant”. While it stays in the atmosphere only for 12 years, it is up to 86 times more powerful in warming the climate in the short term than the most […]
Realizing the promise of Paris: Three ways of strengthening non-state and subnational climate action
By Harro van Asselt, Sander Chan, Idil Boran, Thomas Hale, Lukas Hermwille, Charles Roger. 11 December 2020. Global Governance. Harro van Asselt, Sander Chan, Idil Boran, Thomas Hale, Lukas Hermwille, Charles Roger examine opportunities to strengthen climate action by non-state and subnational actors. Article was first published on the Global Policy website on 11 December […]
Urgenda Ratkaisu – Ilamsto-Oikeudenkäynnit ja tuomioistuinten rooli ilmastonmuutoksen torjunnassa?
Pekka Niemelä, tutkijatohtori, UEF Law School 2020-2022. Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash. Hollannin korkein antoi joulukuussa 2019 uraauurtavan Urgenda-ratkaisun, jonka mukaan ilmastonmuutos uhkaa Euroopan ihmisoikeussopimuksessa (EIS) turvattuja oikeuksia, kuten oikeutta elämään. Se velvoitti Hollannin hallituksen kiristämään toimia ilmastonmuutoksen torjumiseksi ja nostamaan päästövähennystavoitteen kunnianhimoa 25:een prosenttiin vuoden 2020 loppuun mennessä perusteella, ettei maan aiempi tavoite vähentää päästöjä 20 prosentilla […]
Vapaaehtoisten päästöhyvitysten sääntelyyn tarvitaan selkeyttä
Hanna-Mari Ahonen, Kari Hämekoski, Matti Kahra, Kati Kulovesi, Anna Laine ja Maija Saijonmaa. Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash. Kasvava huoli ilmastonmuutoksesta on lisännyt kasvihuonekaasupäästöjen vapaaehtoisen hyvittämisen eli päästökompensaation suosiota. Julkisuuteenkin nousseet ongelmat osoittavat, että toiminnan sääntely laahaa jäljessä. Nostamme tässä kirjoituksessa esiin kaksi tärkeintä ongelmaa peräänkuuluttaen sekä selkeyttä kompensaatiomarkkinoiden toimintaympäristöön että päästökompensaatioiden laadun riittävää […]
Saving the world’s forests: What’s (international) law got to do with it?
Eugenia Recio. Photo by Vista Wei on Unsplash. Natural forests, particularly in tropical regions, are essential for life. They are pools of biodiversity, contribute to combating climate change by storing carbon, and sustain the livelihoods of many indigenous and local communities across the world. In the past weeks, however, worrying images of record-breaking fires destroying […]
Opinion 1:17 – the Investment Court System receives green light from the ECJ. But does it protect countries’ right to regulate mining projects?
Pekka Niemelä. Photo by Sebastian Grochowicz on Unsplash. Introduction In May 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued Opinion 1/17 concerning the relationship between EU law and the so called investment protection rules of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada. CETA’s investment protection rules seek to protect private investments made […]
Delivery destinations and changing markets for liquefied natural gas
By Kim Talus. Photo by KWON JUNHO on Unsplash. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets are going through a rapid and fundamental change. Where the previous era for LNG deliveries was marked by point to point sales from an exporting country to an end-destination importing country, todays LNG world looks very different. The number of end-destination […]