Of the People, by the People, for the People? The European Union’s Experience with Private Environmental Regulation and Enforcement

Abstract

The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on the difference between a global temperature rise of 1.5°C and 2°C is clear in its conclusions: every half a degree counts. Capping temperature rises at 1.5°C would significantly limit our exposure to extreme weather, droughts and rising water levels, but would require ‘rapid and far-reaching transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport and cities’. As the 2018 Nobel prize winner William D Nordhaus concludes, however, the reality is that ‘most countries are on a business-as-usual (BAU) trajectory of minimal policies to reduce their emissions, taking non-cooperative policies that are in their national interest, but far from ones which would represent a global cooperative policy’.