On the basis of the European Commission’s 2015 Action Plan “on Building a Capital Markets Union” (CMU), as further specified in the 2017 “Mid-Term Review of the [CMU] Action Plan”, the European Parliament and the Council adopted on 27 November 2019 Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 “on...

This article offers a discussion of the U.S. agricultural sector and its current focus on an industrialized model of production. Challenges to the longterm sustainability of this approach are presented and an approach based more on natural processes is advocated. The article was prepared for the...

In recent years, China has launched ambitious measures to tackle water pollution. As political commitment and public investment soared, Chinese environmental scientists and practitioners have engaged in a substantial debate on the reorganization of the country's water management system. Domestic...

2005 was declared to be the “Year of the Built Environment” in New Zealand. This article concerns the law relating to the “built environ- ment” and specifically, examines the construction of buildings within an environmental matrix. Starting from the premise that sustainable construction...

In the twentieth century, traditional notions of state sovereignty underwent a profound transformation. Emerging principles of human rights and sustainable development revolutionized thinking about the responsibilities states have within their own territories. Sovereignty in its Westphalian...

Disputes about climate policy involve much more than whether or not to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There is general agreement among proponents of climate policy that strategies should be cost effective, should address distributional impacts, and should incentivize investments in low-carbon...

This paper analyses the relationship between the EU sustainable finance legal framework (‘EU SF framework’) and the most common ESG standards. We present two different types of analysis. Firstly, we analyze the content of the international standards incorporated by reference in the EU SF...

The EU Taxonomy Regulation (TR), adopted in 2019, is a key milestone in defining legally sustainable activities. It should be viewed within the context of the climate and energy targets set by the EU for 2030 in order to become climate-neutral by 2050, and constitutes, along with the Sustainable...

Current proposals for AI regulation, in the EU and beyond, aim to spur AI that is trustworthy and accountable. What is missing, however, is a robust regulatory discourse and roadmap to make AI, and technology more broadly, environmentally sustainable. This paper aims to take first steps to fill...

Financial inclusion, for which the keystone is access to a bank account, is crucial to overcome the socioeconomic backwardness of African countries and to improve the African societies' well-being. The study concentrates on this continent to better understand the nature of its development in...