The book discusses sustainability and law in a multifaceted way. Together, sustainability and law are an emerging challenge for research and science. This volume contributes through an interdisciplinary concept to its further exploration. The contributions explore this exciting domain with innovative ideas and replicable approaches. It combines a variety of authors, from both the public and the private sectors, and thereby guarantees a broad view that enshrines the more theoretical arguments from the academic side as well as stronger practical applicable perspectives. The book provides space for thoughtful expansions of established theories as well as the hopeful emergence of innovative ideas. Moreover, the combination of three to five contributions into the eleven parts respectively aims toward a compression of like minded thoughts. This should lead to an intensification of exchange of viewpoints from different angles on a similar theme. Readers therefore also have the opportunity to concentrate on single chapters, but receive comprised knowledge and a variety of thoughts for new ideas on a particular theme.

This book explores how public and private actors can interrelate to achieve also by means of law a sustainable development which is beneficial for the environment, society and the economy. The Role of Law in Governing Sustainability assesses the structure, functions and perspectives of law in the wider governance frameworks of sustainable development. It provides latest and in-depth insights from each of the three dimensions of sustainable development and the relations among them. Latest political developments on global and regional level related to the environmental, social and the economic dimensions are provided as well as in-depth case studies. Thereby the book explores how international and national laws and governance can help us move towards a more sustainable future. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental law, global governance and sustainable development.

This book presents critical new scholarship on the state of law for sustainable development from an international and comparative perspective.

This book investigates how sustainability informs the universal principles used in domestic and international law. It calls for the acceptance of sustainability as a recognized legal principle which could be applied to the entire legal system rather than just environmental law and regardless of its international or domestic levels. To this end, the book makes a contribution to a theory of global law by discussing whether, as a universally shared concern, environmental protection and the principle of sustainability should contribute to the 'greening' of the fundamental principles of law and governance. The book will be a valuable resource for students, researchers and policy makers working in the areas of environmental law and governance.

This book deals with some aspects of the future shape of the socio-economic order which would be founded on sustainability principles and the role of law therein, instead of on the prevailing capitalist economic order. The volume elaborates in particular on how innovation, a crucial aspect of free-market capitalism and its laws which constitute the current socio-economic order, could result in a more sustainable economy which, in turn, could lead to a more sustainable society. Moreover, the book analyses current developments in financial and economic law and evaluates their perks, risks and sustainability levels. The book contains no less than 11 chapters in which a variety of experts share their state-of-the-art insights regarding specific domains of socio-economic life. As such, the book deals with topics that are at present fully under debate in societies, such as student credit and the dangers it entails, cryptocurrencies and how the law tries to regulate this basically private law instrument, groups of companies under Belgian (company) law, a proposal for improving the international monetary system, and seeds and intellectual property rights, besides various other similar themes. The book forms the latest volume of the book series Economic and Financial Law & Policy – Shifting Insights & Values, and fully complies with the series’ goal of critically examining the legal methods and mechanisms that shape the global free markets and proposing alternatives to them. The book will hereby prove a valuable instrument for all researchers investigating these matters, besides policymakers and their advisers as well as all lawyers active in the field of economic law who look for a new perspective on the subject matters dealt with.

This book addresses legal aspects of sustainable development and offers the latest thinking on a wide range of current themes. By taking a cross-cutting approach, it adds considerably to the exploration of this emerging scientific field. Twenty-nine original contributions present innovative thoughts and replicable ideas from this exciting, new area, which will be of value to practitioners and researchers alike.These contributions are allocated into a horizontal and sectorial part. The section covering horizontal policies has five sub-parts: 1) general aspects; 2) human and intellectual property rights; 3) communication and social enterprise governance; 4) public participation and 5) assessment tools. The second part on sectorial policies also has five sub-parts: 1) forest and water management; 2) renewable energy; 3) cities, waste and material management; 4) biodiversity, nature conservation, oceans and spatial planning and 5) agriculture and rural policy. It offers a multifaceted discussion of sustainable development and law by authors from five continents and from both the public and the private sectors. This selection guarantees a broad view that presents the more theoretical arguments from the academic as well as the practical perspective. Furthermore, the authorship includes senior, highly experienced academics and practitioners as well as those at the start of their career. This ensures thoughtful expansions of established theories as well as the emergence of innovative ideas. Moreover, the ten sub-parts bring together likeminded thoughts, resulting in an exchange of different viewpoints on a similar theme. This allows the readers to concentrate on individual chapters, while at the same time discovering a variety of thoughts and ideas.

This book advances an innovative, multi-jurisdictional argument for the necessity of company law reform to reorient companies towards environmental sustainability.

This anthology discusses important issues surrounding environmental law and economics and provides an in-depth analysis of its use in legislation, regulation and legal adjudication from a neoclassical and behavioural law and economics perspective. Environmental issues raise a vast range of legal questions: to what extent is it justifiable to rely on markets and continued technological innovation, especially as it relates to present exploitation of scarce resources? Or is it necessary for the state to intervene? Regulatory instruments are available to create and maintain a more sustainable society: command and control regulations, restraints, Pigovian taxes, emission certificates, nudging policies, etc. If regulation in a certain legal field is necessary, which policies and methods will most effectively spur sustainable consumption and production in order to protect the environment while mitigating any potential negative impact on economic development? Since the related problems are often caused by scarcity of resources, economic analysis of law can offer remarkable insights for their resolution. Part I underlines the foundations of environmental law and economics. Part II analyses the effectiveness of economic instruments and regulations in environmental law. Part III is dedicated to the problems of climate change. Finally, Part IV focuses on tort and criminal law. The twenty-one chapters in this volume deliver insights into the multifaceted debate surrounding the use of economic instruments in environmental regulation in Europe.