Search results

The purpose of this article is to examine the national law regimes related to the remediation of contaminated land.

The methodology used is comparative. Models for different systems are described on the basis of varying interpretations of the polluter pays principle. The regimes present in the Member States are then analysed to see which model they have adopted. A comparator from each model group is then considered.

This article presents three key findings. First, it concludes that the extent to which additional national legislation relating to environmental damage is permitted, which depends upon the notion of “more stringent” legislation, is incoherent where more than one interpretation is given to the polluter pays principle. Second, the different interpretations given to the principle undermine harmonisation. Finally, this has wider implications for how we justify liability for contaminated land.

This comparative study of the interpretation of the polluter pays principle, through its implementation in Member States, provides a valuable and novel insight into environmental liability regimes in Europe. It also demonstrates the different type of regimes that are developed on the basis of such different interpretations. Although the different national attitudes to contaminated land policy and remediation have been considered before, this article adds to this debate by suggesting a central cause of such variation in the shape of different interpretations of a principle of the European Union.

The purpose of the project was to investigate environmental law issues surrounding the regeneration of brownfield land.

Following a literature review, an inductive approach and an interpretivist epistemology with a phenomenological focus were chosen. A constructionist ontological stance was adopted. A qualitative paradigm was selected to explore the issues in a focus group comprising industry, legal expert and academic contributors.

A critique of the literature on relevant environmental law issues including contaminated land, waste management, water pollution, environmental impact assessment (EIA) issues and finally the political agenda is presented. Contaminated land, waste management, regulators and legislation were discussed in the focus group. The participants contributed their experiences and proposed several changes to environmental law. However, water pollution and EIAs were not considered by the contributors.

Developers face many environmental law challenges when endeavouring to progress housing on brownfield sites including contaminated land, funding, waste treatment permits, water pollution and EIAs. The benefits of the remediation of brownfield sites for housing seem to be a political priority, but reform of challenging environmental law issues less so. Understandably, the legal complexities of Brexit will take precedence.

The literature review identified the need to research the experience of brownfield environmental law challenges and recommended changes to environmental law from industry, legal experts and academia.

The paper aims to examine the question whether legislative reform is the silver bullet for the problems generated by the failure of a company which is exposed to claims arising from the non-fulfilment of its environmental obligations. The limited capacity of the UK insolvency regime to facilitate the fulfilment of a debtor company’s environmental obligations is often illustrated with reference to some significant judicial decisions. However, no real picture has emerged of the frequency with which these issues arise, based on which firm proposals for reform could be advanced. This paper argues that greater regard should be paid to existing mechanisms which provide a means of enabling insolvency risks to be managed or minimised because these point towards the scope for these issues to be resolved through the environmental protection framework rather than through reliance on company and/or insolvency law.

Research was conducted into the statutory and non-statutory regulations (such as statutory guidance) and case law principles, which underpin the treatment of the claims against an insolvent (or potentially insolvent) company resulting from its environmental activities. This included research into policies which have a bearing on this area, developed through governmental and civic consultations and studies.

The paper concludes that the likelihood of a case for legislative reform being made out is weak, and the focus should accordingly shift to strengthening the effectiveness of existing law, policy and practice.

This paper is the first (in the UK context) to challenge the perceived need for reform in this area, engaging with recent examples of such corporate failures and the impact of recent legislative and policy developments.

Tanneries present heavy environmental impacts due to air emissions. Specific quality objectives are fixed by European Directives concerning air and, in particular, volatile organic compounds. The purpose of this paper is to present a proposal for the management of air emissions with a view to achieve quality standards in the Italy's largest tannery district by means of a tradable emissions permits (TEPs) system.

A methodological approach is presented and analysed. The proposed system is based on the “bubble” configuration, which appears to be an effective and feasible application based on the total maximum daily load criterion, supported by the air quality standards or the environmental risk assessment (ERA) procedure.

The TEP system favours technological improvements in the reduction of emissions. The system may not provide a solution to the unpleasant odours deriving from the tanneries, but its application supported by ERA will make it possible to define the admissible levels of air pollution and improve the general state of air quality.

Although the study is not exhaustive and requires further investigation in the economic, legal, administrative and air pollution sectors, it does give the basic elements for a preliminary analysis. The evident lack of experimental data concerning weather and climatic features, intrinsic to exposure assessment, has been pointed out.

This study proposes a methodological pathway aimed at defining the system of tradable permits by verifying the existence and availability of the necessary data. The proposed TEP system can be extended to other homogeneous industrial districts with an appropriate selection of one or more critical parameters.

In the USA and Europe, agricultural nonpoint source (NPS) pollution continues to be among the chief impediments to achieving water quality standards. While the implementation of technology-based water pollution control tools has resulted in evident point source pollution abatement, NPSs continue to threaten surface water and groundwater. The purpose of this paper is to draw from environmental policy literature to identify regulatory tools and management approaches that specifically target agricultural NPS pollution and the factors that drive or impede their implementation and enforcement. This paper utilizes the policy tool framework to help characterize the widespread policy problem, distinguishing its unique set of hurdles from other environmental problems.

Discussion of agricultural NPS pollution management approaches is based on a thorough review of relevant environmental policy and environmental economic literature as well as case studies from the USA and Europe. Analysis is based on the policy tool framework.

This study finds that controlling numerous diffuse sources of agricultural pollution requires an integrated approach that utilizes river basin management and a mix of policy instruments. Additionally, findings suggest that transitioning from voluntary mechanisms to more effective instruments based on measurable water quality performance relies predominantly on three factors: first, more robust quality monitoring data and models; second, local participation; and third, political will.

This research provides important information for regional and national policymakers in areas where there is increasing pollution and regulatory mandates. Identifying conditions of effective water quality policy is applicable and will be of direct use to agencies charged with pollution control.

The purpose of this paper is to design several methods for enforcing developed countries’ responsibilities under the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The GCF has been one of the core subjects of the world climate summits held under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. However, the development of the GCF has not progressed smoothly, and many concerns remain unresolved.

This paper illustrates three approaches for financing the GCF that vary in terms of the relative weights accorded to environmental responsibility and economic capacity. These three methods include the historical responsibility (HR) principle, the ability to pay (AP) principle and the preference score compromises (PSC) approach (which is a combination of the HR and the AP principles).

The empirical analysis demonstrates that the USA is the largest contributor to the GCF under the HR principle due to the volume of its historical emissions, whereas the European Union bears the greatest financial responsibility under the AP principle, based on its gross domestic product. Under the PSC approach, the European Union and the USA each undertakes a financial burden that approximates 40 per cent of the total financing for the GCF. These nations are followed by Japan, which has a share of almost 9 per cent.

This study is the first attempt to introduce the PSC concept into discussions regarding GCF financing. A scheme of burden sharing that combines environmental responsibility and economic capacity factors is developed and introduced. The respective weights assigned to the two factors are determined based on the Borda rule in voting theory, which avoids the arbitrary allocation of weights between the HR and the AP. These findings will be useful for mobilising the GCF in the Post-Kyoto era.

Describes three approaches to incorporating sustainable development into the agri‐food system. Presents the argument that long‐term sustainable development demands trans‐formational change, whereas stop‐gap sustainable development measures can be introduced on an add‐on piecemeal basis. Rooted in strategic choice theory and the punctuated equilibrium paradigm, focuses on how ideology influences organizational design, and compares the current agri‐food system with Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) and the Seikatsu Club. The current agri‐food system protects the environment by regulating the use of environmentally‐unfriendly agricultural practices and chemicals. The Seikatsu Club provides economic incentives for farmers to emphasize sound ecology. CSA values ecological and economic concerns equally, with an additional emphasis on social justice. Discusses implications for future study of changes that incorporate sustainable development.

The requirement of full cost recovery for water services including environmental and resource costs in accordance with the polluter pays principle in Art. 9 EU-Water Framework Directive is a unique provision in the history of the European environmental law. The wording of the provision is a compromise between the Council's and the Parliament's versions that mirrors different conceptual ideas on how to internalize environmental and resource costs. Art. 9 now contains a two-step concept for the achievement of the aim. The uniform implementation of the full cost-recovery calls for common accounting standards for the calculation of financial cost and a common methodology for the estimation of environmental and resource costs on the European level. In Germany, the requirements of the first step are partly fulfilled, but necessities of the second step are not being met at the moment.

The purpose of this paper is to draw out the accounting implications of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Act in Australia.

An analytical approach is undertaken to ascertain the (accounting) practice and research implications of the NGER Act.

Accounting researchers, especially those with interests in social and environmental issues, have a critical role to play in highlighting the potential of the accounting practice in managing, and providing accountability over, carbon emissions, facilitated via the NGER Act. A number of opportunities in social and environmental accounting research are also identified in this paper.

The paper highlights that the NGERS legislation which requires reporting of carbon emissions by affected parties has a number of implications for the accounting practice.

The paper relates a practical issue, in this case the NGER Act, to accounting and suggests that the accounting process can play a critical role in organizational attempts to manage, communicate and price carbon emissions.