New Challenges for Transnational Environmental Law: Brexit and Beyond

• Published in: Transnational environmental law 2018-03, Vol.7 (1), p.1-8
• Main Authors: Etty, Thijs, Heyvaert, Veerle, Carlarne, Cinnamon, Farber, Dan, Huber, Bruce, van Zeben, Josephine
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Climate change; Editorial; Environmental impact; Environmental law; Environmental legislation; Environmental policy; Environmental protection; EU membership; Human rights; Illegal fishing; International law; Litigation; Ozone depletion; Paris Agreement; Sustainable fisheries; Transnationalism; Trump, Donald J
• ISSN: 2047-1025; 2047-1033
• DOI: 10.1017/S2047102518000043

General norms such as the no-harm principle and the law of state responsibility, including obligations to abate and make amends for international harm caused by wrongful state contributions to global emissions, are in Mayer's view logically and legally prior to the entire climate change regime.[...]the sum of international action towards mitigation and adaptation 'stop short of fulfilling the obligations of states under general international law'.18 Climate change law would only preclude the application of general international law if the two stood in conflict, and Mayer is at pains to establish that no such conflict exists.Mayer posits that this regime can best be understood as a compliance regime: 'a set of steps to gradually overcome political obstacles to compliance with general international law in relation to climate change', 21 akin to those series of agreements devoted to the development of international humanitarian law or the phasing out of ozone-depleting substances. 22 For Mayer, a compliance regime is one erected in order to address 'gaps' in compliance, which in this instance amount to gaps in emissions controls and reparations, in turn caused by gaps in global ambition, national commitment, and state action.23 Having established this analytical scaffold, Mayer then analyzes elements of the climate regime in terms of their tendency to diminish or exacerbate aspects of the compliance gaps.[...]one might wonder why and whether vessels engaged in IUU fishing would bother to obtain insurance.Legal efforts to combat illegal fishing represent one approach towards preserving and improving global fisheries; fishery certification initiatives are another.Since its initial adoption in 1998, the Marine Stewardship Council Fisheries Standard and Guidance (MSC FSG) 33 has emerged as the most prominent among private fisheries certification standards.