Massimiliano Montini

Italian Policies and Measures to Respond to Climate Change

The paper describes and comments the Italian policies and measures planned to implement the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, with the aim of contributing to the overall reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in industrialised countries over the next 10-15 years. The first part of the paper describes the main features and characteristics of the Kyoto Protocol to achieve the ultimate aim of the reduction of anthropogenic GHG emissions to a level which would prevent dangerous interference with the climatic system. The paper goes on to identify and discuss the major problems linked with the signature and ratification process as well as with the effective implementation of the Kyoto Protocol around the world. In the second part of the paper, the focus shifts to Italy, and a description and analysis of the Italian policies and measures planned before and after the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol is provided. The attention is drawn to the 1998 National Plan for the reduction of GHG emissions. In the final paragraph of the paper, Italys pro-active approach in planning the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol is placed in a Mediterranean context to see which role the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol could play in the light of the promotion of sustainable development in the Mediterranean area as a whole.

The Best (and Worst) of GHG Emission Trading Systems: Comparing the EU ETS with Its Followers

The European Emission Trading System (EU ETS) is generally considered as the prototype system for the other Emission Trading Systems (ETSs) for the reduction of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) that are rapidly spreading around the world. To get a deeper understanding on the actual capacity of the EU ETS to stand as a model for the other ETSs, the present paper discusses the differences and similarities of the EU ETS with respect to the other main ETSs and the emerging trends that these systems seem to share, comparing the different cap and trade regimes in order to identify the best practices and the desirable features that future ETSs should have. As emerges from the comparative analysis performed in this article, although the followers share some common flaws with the EU ETS, they have also shown the capacity to innovate and possibly devise alternative ways to manage their own ETS regimes, which may in the long term jeopardise the EU leadership in the ETSs context.

Linking Emission Trading Schemes

This chapter investigates linking Emission Trading Schemes (ETSs) as a possible option to increase the effectiveness of the existing domestic or regional regimes and overcome the difficulties encountered in recent years by international climate change negotiations. For this purpose, the drivers and different types of possible linking arrangements are analysed along with their pros and cons, and the “necessary and optional features” for a successful linking are proposed. Building on this analysis, the chapter proposes three selected options for linking ETSs, aiming at enlarging the scope of the existing domestic/regional regimes, ranging from multilateralism to bilateralism. Finally, particular attention is devoted to the proposal recently set forth by the World Bank of a system of “globally networked carbon markets”, which goes beyond the linking agreements planned, proposed and/or implemented so far.

The Impact of International Treaties on Climate Change in SEE Countries

The paper is divided in three parts. In the first one, the climate change issue is presented and a brief analysis of the major international treaties on climate change is provided. A special focus is placed on the concept of the combination between mitigation and adaptation activities which is required to deal effectively with climate change.

The Role of Legal Principles for Environmental Management

The present contribution begins by defining the category of the legal principles as a specific source of international law, highlighting the differences between them and the other two main sources of international law namely treaties and customary law provisions.

The double failure of environmental regulation and deregulation and the need for ecological law

The evolution of environmental law in the last few decades has occurred in two main phases, which correspond to two opposing and sometimes conflicting trends. The first phase, which may be identified as the “environmental regulatory trend”, has been characterised by the attempt to protect the environment through the management of the negative externalities caused by the dominant economic model based on the pursuit of an unrestrained growth. Such a regulatory trend, despite producing an enormous corpus of legislation, has shown many deficiencies. The shortcomings of the environmental regulation trend have therefore paved the way for the advent of the second phase, characterised by an “environmental deregulatory trend”, which has promoted a shift towards the progressive revision of the existing legislation, with a view to simplifying and streamlining it. Unfortunately, both approaches have resulted in a substantial failure. The aim of the present paper is to analyse the double failure of environmental regulation and deregulation and to promote a possible way out. This will be identified as the need to revise the current regulatory regime for environmental protection and to promote a shift towards a new ecologically based approach to the law, which should primarily aim at the protection of the health and integrity of the ecosystems which support life on Earth. Moreover, in order to signal the decisive shift that the new approach should mark, a corresponding change in the name of the law aimed at the protection of the environment and ecosystems will be proposed: from environmental law to ecological law.

Sustainable Development: Renaissance or Sunset Boulevard?

In the last three decades, the principle of sustainable development has played a pivotal role in the development and application of international and national policies which are at the crossroads between economic development, social development and environmental protection. In particular, the year 2015 might be recalled in the future as the turning point in the evolution of the concept of sustainable development because of three independent yet concatenate events, which have occurred in a short period of time and which might exercise a relevant influence on the principle’s future shaping. These events consist of: (a) the publication of Pope Francis’s Encyclical Letter Laudato Si—On care for our common home, (b) the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Sustainable Development Goals and the related 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and (c) the conclusion of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. This chapter analyses the role that sustainable development plays in the three mentioned documents and presents a reference framework for addressing a fundamental question regarding its possible evolutionary path. Such a question may be expressed as follows: has the time finally come for the renaissance of the concept of sustainable development and the embracing of its meaningful application, after many years of uncertainty about its effective role? Or alternatively is the concept, despite its present popularity, destined in the medium-long term to echo the sentiments of ‘Sunset Boulevard’?

In praise of sustainability: the encyclical letter laudato sì and its legal-economic implications

The Encyclical Letter “Laudato Si. On Care For Our Common Home”, issued by Pope Francis in May 2015, contains some legal and economic aspects that go beyond a purely religious relevance, touching upon the political, social, and ethical spheres. The present contribution aims to identify these aspects of the Encyclical Letter, providing a brief reasoned analysis of its most interesting and relevant features, namely the emergence and the human origin of the ecological crisis, the critique of the dominant technocratic paradigm, the weakness of the institutional and legal international response, and the major paths of dialogue proposed by the Encyclical Letter to overcome “the spiral of self-destruction” which humanity is currently confronting. This contribution then focuses on integral ecology as the proposed solution to tackle the present ecological crisis and the call for an ecological conversion. On the basis of the analysis, a final section highlights some tipping points which are worthy of further comment, and contextualises Pope Francis’ views in the light of the most relevant scientific literature on these topics.

The EU ETS: The Pioneer—Main Purpose, Structure and Features

This chapter describes the main features, structures and scope of the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS), which has played a leading role among the existing ETSs on greenhouse gases (GHG), being a sort of pioneer of the large-scale domestic/regional ETSs around the world. Particular attention is devoted to the specific features underlying the legal and economic design of the systems, including the GHG being covered and the sectors involved, the allocation mechanisms, the evolution of the carbon pricing and the subsequent revisions of the EU ETS (e.g. the NER300 programme and the back-loading mechanism) that have been implemented to face some of the problems encountered so far.

Comparing the EU ETS with Its Followers

The European Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is generally considered as the prototype system for the other ETSs that are rapidly spreading around the world. Building on the description of the features of the main ETSs examined in the previous chapters, the present chapter discusses the differences and similarities of the EU ETS with respect to the other main ETS and the emerging trends that these systems seem to share, comparing the different cap and trade regimes in order to identify the best practices and the desirable features that future ETS should have. As emerges from the comparative analysis performed in this chapter, although the followers share with the EU ETS some common flaws, they have also shown the capacity to innovate and possibly devise alternative ways to manage their own ETS regimes, which may in the long term jeopardise the EU leadership in the ETS context.