The field of environmental law is rapidly evolving and continuously impacting different areas of national, European and international law and governance. Environmental protection concerns have spread across many branches of international and EU law: the body of human rights law acts as a prime example, but also other specialized fields, such as trade, investment, energy, fisheries and even humanitarian law, illustrate this tendency. Additionally, as a corollary to the proliferation and specialization of international and EU (environmental) law, subfields of environmental law have emerged such as climate change law, energy governance, biodiversity law, waste and chemicals law, the law of the marine environment, environmental litigation or environmental justice. The study of these branches relates to broader questions on global & EU governance (of international and supranational public goods) as well as regulatory theories. Given the interest in these areas of a significant number of researchers and professors at the EUI, access to information on environmental law seems key to keep the debate alive and informed within the Institute.
The Environmental Law and Governance (ELG) WG is conceived as a forum for EUI researchers and fellows to reflect on key developments in the theory and practice of international environmental law and governance. To this end, the ELG WG convenes a range of activities including workshops, conferences and guest lectures. EUI researchers and fellows also present, discuss and peer-review their work.
We invite all researchers and fellows interested in topics relating to environmental law and governance to get involved with the ELG WG! Students and researchers not affiliated with the EUI are equally welcome to attend our events (which are held in hybrid mode whenever possible) and to get in touch with relevant presentation proposals.
The working group is thankful for the generous support of Prof. Joanne Scott.
The ELG WG is a continuation of the former Environmental Law & Policy Working Group established in 2004 and active until 2007 (thanks to the support of Prof. Pierre-Marie Dupuy), and again from 2009 to 2013 (thanks to the support of Prof. Francesco Francioni).