Jeudi 18 novembre – Atteinte à l’environnement en droit commun

L’environnement c’est notre affaire à tous et à chacun. L’atteinte à l’environnement porte atteinte au « collectif », vocable qui rassemble les acteurs émergents autres que l’État ou le détenteur de droits réels. 

En matière d’environnement, le collectif – longtemps traduit par la figure de l’association non gouvernementale – se diversifie et se met en action, notamment devant les prétoires. Le droit évolue pour prendre en compte cette dimension collective, parfois à toute vitesse, parfois de manière plus modérée.  

Ainsi, le droit peut armer le collectif en lui reconnaissant des prérogatives, allant du droit fondamental à un environnement sain (bientôt dans la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme ?) à l’intérêt des générations futures, désormais explicite dans le nouveau Code civil belge. Par ailleurs, l’accès au juge a été élargi, notamment avec l’adoption de l’article 17, § 2 du Code judiciaire, mais aussi par des décisions jurisprudentielles innovantes, comme celle de la Cour d’appel de Liège du 26 mai 2021, consacrant pour la première fois en droit belge le préjudice écologique. 

Les réformes du Code civil prennent au sérieux ces évolutions, en intégrant une logique de durabilité dans le nouveau droit des biens, ou en proposant l’intégration du préjudice collectif dans le futur livre 5 du Code civil, se rapprochant ainsi du préjudice écologique.

Le Code civil deviendrait-il pour autant un « code pour l’environnement » ?

C’est la thèse que défend la Prof. Mathilde Hautereau-Boutonnet pour le Code civil français, « venu incidemment accorder à l’environnement le statut de ‘chose à protéger’ ».  

Programme

13h45 – 14h00

Accueil 

14h00 – 14h10

Introduction – Dr. Marie-Sophie de Clippele, USL-B

14h10 – 15h00 

Le Code civil français, un Code pour l’environnement – Prof. Mathilde Hautereau-Boutonnet, Université Aix-Marseille

15h00 – 15h20 

Questions-réponses

15h20 – 15h30 

Pause-café

15h30 – 16h00 

Le nouveau Code civil belge, un Code pour l’environnement ? Dr. Marie-Sophie de Clippele, USL-B et Benoit Gors, maître de conférence invité, UCLouvain, avocat

16h00 – 16h30 

Les innovations jurisprudentielles en matière d’atteinte à l’environnement : le préjudice écologique reconnu par la Cour d’appel de Liège le 26 mai 2021 – Prof. Charles-Hubert Born, UCLouvain

16h30 – 17h00 

Débat

17h00 – 17h15

Conclusions

Infos pratiques

Quand ?

Le jeudi 18 novembre de 14h à 17h15 

Où ?

Salle des Examens, Université Saint-Louis Bruxelles, Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 43, 1000 Bruxelles

Inscriptions

participation gratuite mais inscription obligatoire via le formulaire en ligne.

Infos et contact 

cedre@usaintlouis.be

13 October, 4 PM UK Time online – A discussion on the unep report – Regulating air quality

About this event

This webinar will discuss the recently launched UNEP report on ‘Regulating Air Quality: The First Global Assessment of Air Pollution Legislation’.
 
The report – co-authored by Prof Eloise Scotford (UCL) and Prof Delphine Misonne (USL) – outlines findings of a study of air quality legislation in 194 countries and the European Union. Using the 2005 Air Quality Guidelines developed by the Word Health Organization as a starting point, the report examines the legal measures for determining whether air quality standards are being met and what legal obligations and processes exist for failure to meet them. The report emphasizes that robust air quality governance is critical to attaining air quality standards and public health goals. This includes legislation for air quality control which integrates accountability, enforceability, transparency, and public participation. The report provides recommendations to assist countries in strengthening air quality governance and serves as a resource for countries wishing to effectively address air pollution and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Speakers include

  • Prof Patricia Kameri-Mbote, UNEP
  • Prof Eloise Scotford, UCL
  • Prof Delphine Misonne, Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles (USL-B)
  • Prof Ally Lewis, University of York

Chair:
Dr Isra Black

The programme

16:00 Introduction and background to the project – Professor Patricia Kameri-Mbote, Director, Law Division, UNEP
16:15 A Model for Air Quality Governance and Report Key Findings – Prof Eloise Scotford, UCL
16:30 The International Law Picture for Air Quality and Report Key Findings – Prof Delphine Misonne, Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles (USL-B)
16:45 Reflections on the Report from Air Quality Science and Policy – Prof Ally Lewis, University of York
17:00 Q&A
17:30 Event ends

This event will be delivered on Zoom Webinar. Delegates cameras and mics will be turned off throughout but you will be able to put questions to the panel in the Q&A box.

About the speakers

Prof Eloise Scotford, UCL
Eloise Scotford is Professor of Environmental Law in the Faculty of Laws and Centre for Law and Environment, University College London.  Professor Scotford is a leading scholar on the legal treatment of environmental principles (Environmental Principles and the Evolution of Environmental Law (Hart 2017)), air quality law, climate change governance, waste law, and legislative processes concerning the environment. She co-authors Fisher, Lange & Scotford, Environmental Law: Text, Cases and Materials (2nd, OUP 2019). In 2018-20, she held a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant to investigate air quality governance in England. Through 2019 and 2020, Professor Scotford appeared before various UK parliamentary committees to give evidence on new post-Brexit environmental legislation across the UK, including in relation to air quality law. She is co-author of the 2021 UNEP Report on global air pollution legislation (Regulating Air Quality: The First Global Assessment of Air Pollution Legislation). Professor Scotford is an Associate Member of Landmark Chambers, a member of the Avosetta group of EU environmental law experts, and co-chairs the UK Environmental Law Association’s Governance and Devolution Group.

Prof Delphine Misonne, Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles
Delphine Misonne, PhD, LL.M, is FNRS Research Associate ( Belgian Fund for Scientific research), professor of environmental law and head of the Environmental Law Center (CEDRE) at Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles. She holds a chair on “Droit, gouvernance et développement durable” and is special adviser to the head of the University on sustainability issues. Her research addresses the legal determinants of ambition ( level of protection) in environmental matters, at the junction of different legal orders, with a strong base in European Union Law. She is a leading scholar on climate change governance and ambient air quality issues, as demonstrated by various publications and recent invitations to speak before the Belgian Federal Parliament. She is a board member of the Environmental Law Network International (ELNI) and a Board member of the Belgian Council for Sustainable Development, where she currently chairs the product policies group. She is keen to develop research on an interdisciplinary basis. She is co-author of the 2021 UNEP Report on global air pollution legislation (Regulating Air Quality: The First Global Assessment of Air Pollution Legislation). Delphine Misonne is also a King’s College London alumna.

Prof Ally Lewis, University of York
Alastair Lewis is professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of York and a Science Director at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science. He is currently Chair of the Defra Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG).  Prof Lewis is an experimental scientist who has studied the composition of the atmosphere and the impacts of pollution from polar regions to megacities, open oceans to tropical forests. He recently led a major bilateral UK-China research and policy collaboration on improving air quality in Beijing. Prof Lewis has been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry John Jeyes Prize for Environment, Energy and Sustainability and its Silver Medal for Analytical Science. He has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed articles on air pollution and related science and has been a member of science advisory boards for the World Meteorological Organisation and UN-Environment.

Register via: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/2021/oct/online-regulating-air-quality-discussion-unep-report

Organized by UCL London, with Université Saint-Louis Bruxelles & UNEP

The power of environmental law – Conference online 15 October

Wat a title ! Subtitle: Experiences from the past and perspectives for the future 

On Friday 15 October, full online !

ELNI conference at the occasion of a 30 years anniversary. Co-organized with VVOR. Registration via this link

The Environmental Law Network International (elni) was founded in 1990. This network of environmental lawyers in Europe and beyond started with discussions and publications on topics like ‘Participation and Litigation Rights of Environmental Associations in Europe’, licensing procedures for industrial plants, environmentally sound waste management or ‘Institutions of International Environmental Governance’. Since then, the environmental crisis – with climate change, loss of biodiversity and worldwide pollution of air, land and water – has become much more serious. Environmental law has also grown in quantity and quality during these 30 years. So elni’s (belated) birthday event might be the right moment to look back and to look ahead with a focus on what environmental law can and should achieve.

The Conference will have a closer look at four major topics: 1) Involvement of the public, 2) Litigation, 3) Climate laws and 4) ‘Zero pollution’. Leading European experts on environmental law from academia and legal practice will analyse and discuss past developments, the present situation and future challenges. They will pay particular attention to current plans and legislative proposals of the EU Commission regarding access to justice at Union and national level, a European Climate Law and the ‘Zero pollution’ action plan for air, water and soil.

 Program

  • 09h00: The power of environmental law: 30 years of European environmental law – developments and perspectives
    Prof. em. Dr. Eckard Rehbinder (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany)
    Debate with the audience
  • 10h00: Public involvement: from burdensome addition to essential element
    Prof. Dr. Jerzy Jendroska (Opole University, Poland) and Dr. Lorenzo Squintani (University of Groningen, the Netherlands)
    Debate with the audience led by moderator MrsMarga Robesin (Nature & Environment, the Netherlands)
  • 11h00: break
               
  • 11h30: Litigation and duties of states: can courts make a difference?
    Prof. Dr. Julien Bétaille (university of Toulouse, France) and Dr. Roda Verheyen (Rechtsanwälte Günther, Germany)  
    Debate with the audience led by moderator Prof. Dr. Gerhard Roller (Bingen University, Germany) 
  • 13h00: break
  • 14h00: Climate laws: Europe’s new hope?
    Prof. Dr. Delphine Misonne (Université Saint-Louis, Belgium) and Prof. Dr. Marjan Peeters (Maastricht University, the Netherlands)
    Debate with the audience led by moderator Prof. Dr. Luc Lavrysen (Ghent University, Belgium)
  • 15h30: break
  • 16h00: Zero pollution in 2050: which measures are necessary?
    Prof. Dr. Martin Führ (Darmstadt University, Germany) and Mr. Jeremy Wates (European Environmental Bureau)
    Debate with the audience led by moderator Mrs. Isabelle Larmuseau (Flemish Environmental Law Association, Belgium)
  • 17h30: 30 years elni/elni Review
    Prof. Dr. Gerhard Roller (Bingen University, Germany) and Dr. Julian Schenten (Darmstadt University, Germany)
                    

Pre-registration is required