Climate change is a global crisis that requires countries to act on both domestic and international levels. This paper examines how climate policies in these two arenas are related and to what extent domestic and international climate ambitions are complementary or disparate. While scholarly work has begun to assess the variation in overall climate policy ambition, only a few studies to date have tried

Over the past decades, the international governance of climate change has evolved from a singular forum—the UNFCCC—to a larger international regime complex of a variety of fora covering different aspects of the broader climate change issue. The international regime complex on climate change (IRCCC) presents particular challenges and opportunities for ambitious climate actors like the European Union

Scholars and policymakers working on non-state climate action have tended to focus on functional considerations, largely neglecting questions of ideology. This article brings them into the spotlight by investigating how ideology affects climate action initiatives. Based on a new database of 389 projects associated with reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, the article examines

The world community recognizes the enormous potential danger posed by nuclear power, including accidents at nuclear industries and atomic infrastructure facilities, the possibility of using nuclear technologies for criminal purposes. At the same time, immediate rejection of the use of nuclear technologies can create incomparably greater harm to both humans and the environment. In the context of many

In Europe, there are different regulations regarding hazardous waste management with which European Union Member States must comply. On the one hand, Member States must meet the recovery targets that are set in the different waste Directives, and they have two options here: material recovery facilities in the country of origin, or recovery through the shipment of waste. In addition, EU Member States

Transboundary collaboration between the United States (US) and Mexico in the Colorado River Basin has heightened in recent years, as climate change, population growth, and overallocation threaten the long-term stability of the region. Through a combination of document analysis and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, we examine patterns of change in the governance of the Colorado River

The private sector in North Korea is virtually non-existent, and typical forms of grass-root Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) required for forestry carbon trading are not recognized. The state regulates the local forest communities and labor market through central planning and control. Previous researches tend to target grass-root NGOs that were established voluntarily after democratization, while

The Ramsar wetland sites are important habitats for biodiversity and provide ecological services to communities that otherwise have no access to water resources. In Kenya, some wetlands are more prominent and are recognized worldwide as tourist hot spots, biodiversity-rich zones and wildlife habitats. However, these wetlands face overexploitation and degradation from surrounding communities. The efforts

The study, through the prism of comparing various government practices, critically examines the problems of Russian legislation and policies in the field of renewable energy sources, such as problems of fragmentation, obsolescence and lack of legislation. The article examines the current legislation, which establishes incentives for the development of renewable energy. The research question consists

The most evident shortcoming of the international agreements on climate actions is the compliance to their prescriptions. Can John Rawls’s social contract theory help us to solve the problem? We apply the veil of ignorance decision-making setting in a sequential dictator game to study the compliance to climate change agreements and we test the model in a laboratory experiment. The veil of ignorance

This paper describes the complex hydrogeological, legal framework and socioeconomic costs of the groundwater protection in major groundwater basins (MGBs) in Poland in accordance with European directives. The hydrogeological criteria developed in Poland for establishing MGBs and the principles of their protection provide more details to the directives that are in force in Europe, which define the general

A growing scholarship argues that decarbonization cannot be achieved with single instruments like carbon pricing alone. A broader mix of reinforcing policies is required. This literature focuses on how policies can accelerate technological innovation, restrict polluting activities, promote green growth, and ensure social justice. Applying the policy mix literature to the European Union (EU), this article

President Biden faces tremendous challenges to overcome political polarisation as he re-commits the United States to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and promises decarbonisation of the US economy over the next three decades. To achieve deep decarbonisation, recent scholarship identifies the crucial role of broad policy mixes that create reinforcing effects between climate and energy policies

This paper reviews the national environmental agenda of Arab countries in the Middle East and Africa in an attempt to determine coherence of local efforts with the international environmental commitments these countries have made by signing and ratifying the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework and Convention on Climate Change. The paper succinctly summarizes the impacts of climate change

In international disputes between investors and host-States, the traditionally asymmetric nature of international investment agreements (IIAs) may prevent States from bringing claims against investors for harm caused, including environmental damage. At the same time, allowing host-State counterclaims for environmental damage is a potentially useful tool for rebalancing the asymmetric nature of IIAs

This paper examines the effects of political pressure groups (lobbies) on transboundary emissions of individual countries and on the stability of international environmental agreements to reduce emissions. We consider two types of lobbies, industry and environmentalists, and we allow for asymmetric countries to consider differences in lobby strengths to study strategic international spillovers of national

In the original publication of the article, the second author's name was published incorrectly. The correct name is given with this Correction.

Human impacts on freshwater systems and related ecosystems are ever-growing as demands for water, food and energy increase. The development of large-scale irrigation systems in response to food insecurity can affect the availability of water for other uses and users. The use of fertilizers or pesticides in agriculture can negatively impact on the quality of a watercourse and affect other uses in the

The principle of ‘no significant harm’ as a way of addressing transboundary environmental challenges is both inadequately researched and inadequately implemented in many parts of the world. This paper addresses the questions: What is the nature of transboundary harm in the Anthropocene? Is the principle of no significant harm able to address current and pre-empt future transboundary harm in the field

This paper provides a historical and legal perspective of EU regulation on genetically modified organisms (GMOs)—through its initial development to its current position—in view of major advancements of modern molecular biotechnologies used for agriculture. We argue that the emergence and development of EU regulation of GMOs were shaped by antecedent events, notably bovine spongiform encephalopathy

The combined effects of socio-economic growth as well as climate change exert increasing pressure on international river basins and require dedicated cooperative efforts to jointly manage international rivers. Cooperative strategies drawn from scientific literature, empirical research and practitioner’s handbooks are explored and clustered into six key dimensions of goals, instruments, structures,

Access to water has been recognized as an international human right at least since 2010, when both the United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council adopted resolutions to this effect. The no significant harm principle can be found in the UN Watercourses Convention, and in numerous other global, regional, and watercourse-specific treaties. This paper provides an explanation of how the

In April 2019, the European Union (EU) revised its fuel economy policy for new passenger cars (PC). The new standard set an ambitious policy framework that featured high CO2 caps on these vehicles from 2025 and 2030 with limited flexibility for automobile industry to comply with the new standard, reflecting European decision-makers’ aspirations for zero-emission mobility. Most literature on EU policy-making

The international legal architecture to manage freshwater and ocean ecosystems does not adequately provide for the interconnected nature of these ecosystems or the transboundary harm flowing between them. Pollution from land-based sources exemplifies this issue where plastic, agricultural run-off, discharge of nutrients and pesticides and untreated sewage accounts for approximately 80% of all marine

The no-harm principle is at the heart of the several international conventions focusing on the uses, allocation, management and protection of transboundary water resources. However, in the framework of these agreements, the meaning of “no-harm” remains rather vague. Through an analysis of six emblematic cases brought before the International Court of Justice and arbitration tribunals, we elucidate

The chapter addresses the no-harm principle as a core pillar of the international water law regime, and its inter-relationship with the principles of equitable and reasonable utilisation and cooperation. No harm will be described in its harmonised relation to the latter two principles under the “community interest” approach to transboundary watercourses, as enunciated by the Permanent Court of International

Recognition that hydropower plays a role in fostering sustainable development and helping countries move away from fossil fuels has led to a resurgence of planned projects on transboundary rivers around the world. Whilst these projects offer clear benefits, they are not without their socio-ecological impacts. An added feature of hydropower projects is that they tend to involve a wide range of actors

Scholars commonly hypothesize that enhanced capacity—improved ability to do as agreed—increases states’ compliance with international agreements. In contrast, using a novel dataset that covers 31 states and three decades of cooperation, I find a negative effect of capacity on compliance. To help explain this seemingly counterintuitive finding, I offer a novel conjecture of the capacity–compliance relationship

The duty to prevent significant transboundary harm remains a cornerstone principle of international law, and especially of international environmental and water resources law. However, this rule focuses on the conduct of a State where harm originates, rather than on the fact that harm has resulted from such conduct, and thus requires that States exercise due diligence in anticipating and in preventing

The principle of no significant harm has become a cornerstone of international environmental and specifically international water law. Its implementation does, however, regularly lead to disagreements and conflicts between riparian states to shared watercourses as interpretations as to what constitutes significant transboundary harm and whether a certain water resources infrastructure project can move