Better than best available: does environmental permitting spur environmental innovations in Finland?
Photo by Matt Ridley on Unsplash Mirella Miettinen and Saara Österberg In Finland, two recent cases from the minerals sector – Dragon Mining Ltd and Batteries Materials Finland Ltd – have indicated that there are ambiguities in the requirement for the best available technique (BAT) in the environmental permitting process. Dragon Mining operated a gold […]
Mistä EU:n Fit for 55 -lakipaketissa on kyse ja miksi se on tärkeä?
By Kati Kulovesi and Päivi Leino-Sandberg. Julkaistu alun perin 2035Legitimacy-blogissa. Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash. Euroopan komissiolta odotetaan heinäkuussa Fit for 55-lainsäädäntöpakettia. Se sisältää ehdotukset lakimuutoksista, joiden avulla toteutetaan EU:n tavoite vähentää kasvihuonekaasupäästöjä 55:llä prosentilla vuoden 1990 tasosta vuoteen 2030 mennessä. Mikä on paketin tärkein anti ja miten se vaikuttaa Suomeen? Entä miten pakettia koskevia […]
Environmental human rights in Kenya: between promise and reality
By Rosemary Mwanza, PhD student at the UEF Law School. Photo by pisauikan on Unsplash. This blog post is based on my recently published article entitled ‘Toxic Spaces, Community Voices, and the Promise of Environmental Human Rights in Kenya: Lessons on the Owino Uhuru Pollution Incident’, appearing in the Nordic Journal of Human Rights. The […]
The case for an EU grand climate strategy
By Sebastian Oberthür and Claire Dupont. First published as an Opinion on EURACTIV, 10 June 2021. Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash. The time has come for the EU to move its international climate leadership to the next stage and upgrade the external dimension of the European Green Deal by developing an integrated EU grand climate […]
Where do countries stand in UN climate negotiations after 2020?
By Dr Yulia Yamineva, Senior Researcher, and Dr Jen Allan, Lecturer at Cardiff University, UK. Photo credit: IISD/Earth Negotiations Bulletin The UN Convention on Climate Change is holding its intersessional meetings from 31 May to 17 June in a virtual mode. This is the first official meeting since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic as only […]
Friends of the Earth (Netherlands) v Royal Dutch Shell: Human rights and the obligations of corporations in the Hague District Court decision
By Annalisa Savaresi and Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh. First published in The Global Network for Human Rights and the Environment (GNHRE) blog on 31 May 2021. Photo by Lawrence Makoona on Unsplash. After its landmark ruling in the Urgenda case in 2015, on 25 May 2021 the Hague District Court marked another milestone in the history of climate litigation worldwide by ordering Royal […]
Keeping fossil fuels in the ground: From slogan to legal obligation?
By Harro Van Asselt. First published in the University of Oslo, Blogging for Sustainability on 31 May 2021. Photo by Liam Briese on Unsplash. Last week’s ruling by the Hague District Court in the Netherlands ordering the oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell – the parent company of the broader Shell group – to reduce its […]
Shell-shocked: a watershed moment for climate litigation against fossil fuel companies
Harro van Asselt, Kati Kulovesi, Mikko Rajavuori and Annalisa Savaresi. Photo by Marc Rentschler on Unsplash. The Netherlands is no longer known just for its tulips, windmills and bicycles. Its latest export product is climate change litigation. Following 1.5 years after the Dutch Supreme Court in Urgenda decided that the Dutch government should step up its emission reduction […]
Hollantilainen tuomioistuin käytti Pariisin ilmastosopimusta tärkeänä mittarina arvioidessaan Shellin vastuuta ilmastonmuutoksen torjumisesta
Kati Kulovesi ja Mikko Rajavuori. *Photo from Pexels. ‘Ennen Hollanti tunnettiin tulppaaneista ja tuulimyllyistä, nyt se tunnetaan ilmasto-oikeudenkäynneistä,’ totesi kollegamme, Itä-Suomen yliopiston ilmasto-oikeuden ja politiikan professori Harro van Asselt pari vuotta sitten Urgenda-tapauksen yhteydessä. Tässä kuuluisassa, korkeimpaan oikeuteen asti edenneessä oikeudenkäynnissä tuomioistuin määräsi Hollannin hallituksen kiristämään päästövähennystoimiaan. Uraauurtavien hollantilaisten ilmasto-oikeudenkäyntien trendi sai jatkoa toukokuussa 2021, […]
Sustainable energy democracy: What is it and why does it matter?
By Kaisa Huhta, Senior Lecturer in EU law at the CCEEL Photo by Flash Dantz on Unsplash Sustainable energy democracy is a concept that has been used to understand new citizen-centred phenomena emerging in the energy transition. This blog post briefly explores the concept of sustainable energy democracy from a legal perspective, based on a […]