Governing climate change: Towards a new paradigm for risk regulation

Modern Law Review

Volumn 74, Issue 6, 2011, Pages 817-844

  Heyvaert, Veerle ^a  

^a LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Climate change; Environmental law; Eu law; Governance; Risk regulation

Indexed keywords

EID: 80054722429     PISSN: 00267961     EISSN: 14682230     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2230.2011.00874.x     Document Type: Article

References (158)

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2. cf C. Hood, H. Rothstein, and R. Baldwin, The Government of Risk. Understanding Risk Regulation Regimes (Oxford: OUP, 2004) 3. It should be noted that the definition of regulation generally, and risk regulation in particular, is both evolving and contested. For a critical discussion of both, see J. Black, 'Decentring Regulation: Understanding the Role of Regulation and Self-regulation in a "Post-regulatory" World' (2001) 54 Current Legal Problems 103; and 'The Role of Risk in the Regulatory Process' in R. Baldwin and M. Lodge, Oxford Handbook on Regulation (Oxford: OUP, 2010) 302.
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15. C. Hood, H. Rothstein, and R. Baldwin, The Government of Risk. Understanding Risk Regulation Regimes (Oxford: OUP, 2004) 3.
16. Commission Communication on the Precautionary Principle COM(2000)1 final, 2 February 2000.
17. V. Heyvaert, 'Facing the Consequences of the Precautionary Principle in European Community Law' (2006) European Law Review 185.
18. Black and 'The Role of Risk in the Regulatory Process' in R. Baldwin and M. Lodge, Oxford Handbook on Regulation (Oxford: OUP, 2010) 310.
19. cf P. O'Malley, 'Uncertain Subjects: Risk, Liberalism and Contract' (2001) 29 Economy and Society 462.
20. cf E. Stokes, 'The EC Courts' Contribution to Refining the Parameters of Precaution' (2008) 11 Journal of Risk Research 491, 494.
21. cf N. Luhmann, Risk: A Sociological Theory (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1993).
22. cf T. L. McDaniels And R. Gregory, 'Learning as an Objective within a Structured Risk Management Decision Process' (2004) 38 Environmental Science and Technology 1921.
23. M. Everson and E. Vos, 'European Risk Governance in a Global Context' in E. Vos (ed), European Risk Governance. Its Science, its Inclusiveness and its Effectiveness (Connex Report Series Nr 6, 2008) 10-15.
24. S. Rayner, 'Democracy in the Age of Assessment: Reflections on the Roles of Expertise and Democracy in Public Sector Decision-Making' (2003) 30 Science and Public Policy 163.
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26. S. Jasanoff, Designs on Nature: Science and Democracy in Europe and the United States (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005).
27. See E. Fisher, Risk Regulation and Administrative Constitutionalism (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2007).
28. See, for instance, writings on EU risk regulation by David Vogel (eg, D. Vogel, 'The New Politics of Risk Regulation in Europe' LSE Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation Working Paper (2001) 5-7 at (last visited 1 August 2011).
29. E. Fisher, Risk Regulation and Administrative Constitutionalism (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2007).
30. Ellen Vos M. Everson and E. Vos, 'European Risk Governance in a Global Context' in E. Vos (ed), European Risk Governance. Its Science, its Inclusiveness and its Effectiveness (Connex Report Series Nr 6, 2008) 10-15.
31. E. Vos, 'EU Food Safety Regulation in the Aftermath of the BSE Crisis' (2000) 23 Journal of Consumer Policy 227.
32. R. Lofstedt, F. Bouder, J. Wardman and S. Chakraborty, 'The Changing Nature of Communication and Regulation of Risk in Europe' (2011) 14 Journal of Risk Research 409.
33. Bill Durodié, 'Plastic Panics: European Risk Regulation in the Aftermath of BSE' in J. Morris, Rethinking Risk and the Precautionary Principle (Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000) 141.
34. C. Joerges, 'Law, Science and the Management of Risks to Health at the National, European and International Level - Stories on Baby Dummies, Mad Cows and Hormones in Beef' (2001) 7 Colum J Eur L 2.
35. V. Heyvaert, Coping With Uncertainty. The Regulation of Chemicals in the European Union (PhD dissertation, European University Institute, Florence, Italy, 1999).
36. V. Heyvaert, 'Regulating Chemical Risk: REACH in a Global Governance Perspective' in J. Eriksson, M. Gilek, and C. Ruden (eds), Regulating Chemical Risk: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on European and Global Challenges (New York: Springer, 2010).
37. A. Alemanno, 'EU Risk Regulation and Science: The Role of Experts in Decision-Making and Judicial Review' in Vos M. Everson and E. Vos, 'European Risk Governance in a Global Context' in E. Vos (ed), European Risk Governance. Its Science, its Inclusiveness and its Effectiveness (Connex Report Series Nr 6, 2008) 38-39.
38. The European Journal of Risk Regulation identifies European law and policy on chemicals, nanomaterials, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, food and feed, cosmetics, industrial accidents and public health as the central focus of its research. See (last visited 1 August 2011).
39. Directive 67/548/EEC on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances [1967] OJ Nr 196/1.
40. cf V. Heyvaert, Coping With Uncertainty. The Regulation of Chemicals in the European Union (PhD dissertation, European University Institute, Florence, Italy, 1999).
41. A. Alemanno, 'EU Risk Regulation and Science: The Role of Experts in Decision-Making and Judicial Review' in Vos M. Everson and E. Vos, 'European Risk Governance in a Global Context' in E. Vos (ed), European Risk Governance. Its Science, its Inclusiveness and its Effectiveness (Connex Report Series Nr 6, 2008) 38-39.
42. Case C-180/96 UK v Commission [1999] ECR I-2265; Case 178/84 Comission v Germany [1987] ECR 1227; Joined cases T-74/00, T-76/00, T-83/00, T-84/00, T-85/00, T-132/00, T-137/00 and T-141/00, Artegodan v Commission [2002] ECR II-4945. We witness a similar phenomenon at the international level, see, inter alia, G. Shaffer and M. Pollack, When Cooperation Fails. The International Law and Politics of Genetically Modified Food (Oxford: OUP, 2009).
43. A. Lang and R. Cooney, 'Taking Uncertainty Seriously: Adaptive Governance, Alien Invasive Species and the WTO' (2007) 18 European Journal of International Law 523.
44. J. Scott, 'The European Regulation of GMOs and the WTO' (2003) Columbia Journal of European Law 213.
45. I. Cheyne, 'Risk and Precaution in World Trade Organization Law' (2006) 40 Journal of World Trade 837.
46. cf Black, who observes a similar influence of risk on environmental regulation at the UK level, in Black, 'The Role of Risk in the Regulatory Process' in R. Baldwin and M. Lodge, Oxford Handbook on Regulation (Oxford: OUP, 2010) 302.
47. See Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 on genetically modified food and feed [2003] OJL 268/1. See also Lee on the construction of nanotechnological risk within EU regulation, M. Lee, 'Risk and Beyond: EU Regulation of Nanotechnology' (2010) 35 European Law Review 799.
48. M. Lee, EU Environmental Law: Challenges, Change and Decision-Making (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2005); J. Jans and H. Vedder, European Environmental Law (The Netherlands: Europa Law Publishing, 2008). See, eg, preamble 29 of Directive 2008/01/EC concerning integrated pollution prevention and control [2008] OJL 24/8; preambles 17 and 23 of Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy [2000] OJL 327/1; and para 5 of the preamble to Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora [1992] OJL 2006/7.
49. See European Commission Impact Assessment Guidelines 2009, SEC[2009]92, 15 January 2009, 27.
50. See, for instance, the references to technical feasibility, economic viability, social and economic impacts as factors for Member States to consider when deciding on the application of or deviation from the waste hierarchy in Art 4(2) of Directive 2008/98/EC on waste [2008] OJL312/3, and the exception of 'overriding public interest, including those of a social or economic nature' to the prohibition on plans or projects posing an environmental risk to special conservation areas (Article 6(4) of Directive 92/43/EEC n 28 above). J. Jans and H. Vedder, European Environmental Law (The Netherlands: Europa Law Publishing, 2008).
51. D. Chalmers, 'Gauging the Cumbersomeness of EU Law' (2009) 62 Current Legal Problems 405.
52. On the link between oversight, accountability, and risk regulation, see H. Rothstein, M. Huber and G. Gaskell, 'A Theory of Risk Colonization: the Spiralling Regulatory Logics of Societal and Institutional Risk' (2006) 35 Economy and Society 96.
53. Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 concerning the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals (REACH), establishing a European Chemicals Agency, amending Directive 1999/45/EC and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 793/93 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1488/94 as well as Council Directive 76/769/EEC and Commission Directives 91/155/EEC, 93/67/EEC, 93/105/EC and 2000/21/EC [2006] OJL 396/1.
54. cf N. Pidgeon and C. Butler, 'Risk Analysis and Climate Change' (2009) 18 Environmental Politics 673; M. Granger Morgan, M. Kandlikar, J. Risbey, and H. Dowlatabadi, 'Why Conventional Tools for Policy Analysis are often Inadequate for Problems of Global Change' (1999) 41 Climatic Change 270, 273-274.
55. See, eg, the extensive risk assessment management operator responsibilities under the Seveso II Directive (Council Directive 96/82/EC on the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous substances [1997] OJL 10/13), and the chemicals manufacturer, importer and user responsibilities under REACH as discussed in V. Heyvaert, 'Regulating Chemical Risk: REACH in a Global Governance Perspective' in J. Eriksson, M. Gilek, and C. Ruden (eds), Regulating Chemical Risk: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on European and Global Challenges (New York: Springer, 2010).
56. E. Fisher, 'The "Perfect Storm" of REACH: Charting Regulatory Controversy in the Age of Information, Sustainable Development, and Globalization' (2008) 9 Journal of Risk Research 541, 548.
57. cf C. Boswell, 'The Political Functions of Expert Knowledge: Knowledge and Legitimation in European Union Immigration Policy' (2008) 15 Journal of European Public Policy 471.
58. cf C. Hood and H. Rothstein, 'Risk Regulation under Pressure: Problem Solving or Blame Shifting?' (2001) 33 Administration and Society 21, 40.
59. Commission Communication on the Precautionary Principle COM(2000)1 final, 2 February 2000; Case C-236/01 Monsanto Agricoltura Italia SpA v Council [2003] ECR I-8105; V. Heyvaert, 'Facing the Consequences of the Precautionary Principle in European Community Law' (2006) European Law Review 185.
60. Case C-77/09 Gowan Comércio Internacional e Serviços Lda v Ministero della Salute judgement of 22 December 2010, not yet reported, at pt 75. See also Case T-13/99 Pfizer Animal Health SA v Council [2002] ECR II-3305; and E. Stokes, 'The EC Courts' Contribution to Refining the Parameters of Precaution' (2008) 11 Journal of Risk Research 497-501.
61. R. Lofstedt, F. Bouder, J. Wardman and S. Chakraborty, 'The Changing Nature of Communication and Regulation of Risk in Europe' (2011) 14 Journal of Risk Research 409.
62. cf E. Vos, 'EU Food Safety Regulation in the Aftermath of the BSE Crisis' (2000) 23 Journal of Consumer Policy 227, 234.
63. M. Everson and E. Vos, 'European Risk Governance in a Global Context' in E. Vos (ed), European Risk Governance. Its Science, its Inclusiveness and its Effectiveness (Connex Report Series Nr 6, 2008) 11.
64. R. Lofstedt, F. Bouder, J. Wardman and S. Chakraborty, 'The Changing Nature of Communication and Regulation of Risk in Europe' (2011) 14 Journal of Risk Research 412.
65. J. Corkin. 'Science, Legitimacy and the Law: Regulating Risk Regulation Judiciously in the European Community' (2008) 33 European Law Review 359.
66. V. Heyvaert, 'Facing the Consequences of the Precautionary Principle in European Community Law' (2006) European Law Review 196.
67. V. Heyvaert, 'Trade and the Environment: Proportionality Substituted?' (2001) 13 Journal of Environmental Law 392.
68. Case C-473/98 Chemikalieninspektionen v Toolex Alpha AB [2000] ECR I-5681; Case C-309/02 Radlberger [2004] ECR I-11763; Case C-320/03, Commission v Austria [2005] ECR I-9871.
69. Kyoto (Japan), 10 December 1997 (entered into force 16 February 2005) (1998) International Legal Materials 22.
70. Council Decision 2002/358/EC concerning the approval, on behalf of the European Community, of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the joint fulfilment of commitments thereunder [2002] OJL130/1.
71. European Parliament and Council Decision 406/2009/EC on the effort of Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Community's greenhouse gas reduction commitments up to 2020 [2009] OJL140/136. See also Commission Communication on 20 20 by 2020. Europe's Climate Change Opportunity COM(2008)30 final, 23 January 2008. At the point of writing, the prospects for the 30 per cent option being taken up are slim: the 2010 Cancun negotiations produced modest results on issues such as climate funding, forest protection and technology sharing, but stopped short of a renewed agreement on binding emission reduction targets. See Decisions adopted by COP 16 and CMP 6 at (last visited 1 August 2011). The recent republican party win in the US congressional elections further dampens the prospects of the US government signing up to an ambitious Kyoto II in the coming year. See D. Keating, 'US Election Leaves EU Isolated on Climate Policy' ENDS Europe 5 November 2010.
72. Whether we are talking about diamonds or rhinestones is disputed. A full discussion of the legitimacy and effectiveness of emissions trading as a climate change mitigation instrument exceeds the ambitions of this article, but see, eg, G. Winter, 'The Climate is no Commodity: Taking Stock of the Emissions Trading System' (2010) 22 Journal of Environmental Law 1.
73. R. Baldwin 'Regulation Lite: the Rise of Emissions Trading' (2008) 2 Regulation and Governance 193.
74. R. Stewart, 'Economic Incentives for Environmental Protection: Opportunities and Obstacles' in R. Stewart, P. Sands, and R. Revesz (eds), Environmental Law, the Economy and Sustainable Development (Cambridge: CUP, 2000).
75. D. Ellerman and B. Buchner, 'The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme: Origins, Allocation and Early Results' (2007) 1 Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 66.
76. A. D. Ellerman, F. Convery, and C. de Perthuis, Pricing Carbon (Cambridge: CUP, 2010).
77. Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC [2003] OJ L275/32, as amended by Directive 2009/29/EC [2009] OJ L140/63.
78. 2 emissions to a much lesser extent, nitrous oxide. See Annex I in combination with Annex II of the ETD.
79. For a full listing, see annex II of the ETD.
80. See literature referenced underG. Winter, 'The Climate is no Commodity: Taking Stock of the Emissions Trading System' (2010) 22 Journal of Environmental Law 1.
81. R. Baldwin 'Regulation Lite: the Rise of Emissions Trading' (2008) 2 Regulation and Governance 193.
82. R. Stewart, 'Economic Incentives for Environmental Protection: Opportunities and Obstacles' in R. Stewart, P. Sands, and R. Revesz (eds), Environmental Law, the Economy and Sustainable Development (Cambridge: CUP, 2000).
83. D. Ellerman and B. Buchner, 'The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme: Origins, Allocation and Early Results' (2007) 1 Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 66.
84. A. D. Ellerman, F. Convery, and C. de Perthuis, Pricing Carbon (Cambridge: CUP, 2010) See also European Commission, EU Action against Climate Change. The EU Emissions Trading Scheme (Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2008).
85. M. Wråke, 'Emissions Trading. The Ugly Duckling of European Climate Policy?' Swedish Environmental Research Institute, July 2009 at: (last visited 1 August 2011).
86. S. Weishaar, Towards Auctioning: The Transformation of the European Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System (Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International, 2009).
87. J. Skjaerseth, 'EU Emissions Trading: Legitimacy and Stringency' (2010) 20 Environmental Policy and Governance 295.
88. S. Bogojevic, 'Ending the Honeymoon: Deconstructing Emissons Trading Discourses' (2009) 21 Journal of Environmental Law 443.
89. European Parliament and Council Decision 406/2009/EC on the effort of Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Community's greenhouse gas reduction commitments up to 2020 [2009] OJL140/136. See also Commission Communication on 20 20 by 2020. Europe's Climate Change Opportunity COM(2008)30 final, 23 January 2008. At the point of writing, the prospects for the 30 per cent option being taken up are slim: the 2010 Cancun negotiations produced modest results on issues such as climate funding, forest protection and technology sharing, but stopped short of a renewed agreement on binding emission reduction targets. See Decisions adopted by COP 16 and CMP 6 at (last visited 1 August 2011). The recent republican party win in the US congressional elections further dampens the prospects of the US government signing up to an ambitious Kyoto II in the coming year. See D. Keating, 'US Election Leaves EU Isolated on Climate Policy' ENDS Europe 5 November 2010.
90. K. Kulovesi, E. Morgera, M. Munoz, 'Environmental Integration and Multi-faceted International Dimensions of EU law: Unpacking the EU's 2009 Climate and Energy Package' (2011) 48 Common Market Law Review 829.
91. 2 emissions from light-duty vehicles [2009] OJL 140/1 (the Passenger Car Regulation).
92. Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources [2009] OJL 140/16.
93. Directive 2002/91/EC on the energy performance of buildings [2003] OJL 1/65 and Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the energy performance of buildings COM(2008)780 final, 13 November 2008 Directive 2005/32/EC establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-using products [2005] OJL 191/29; Directive 2006/32/EC on energy end-use efficiency and energy services [2006] OJL 114/64.
94. Directive 2009/125/EC establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-related products [2009] OJL 285/10; Regulation 66/2010 on the EU ecolabel [2010] OJL 27/1.
95. Directive 2009/31/EC on the geological storage of carbon dioxide [2009] OJL 140/114.
96. 'Facing the consequences. Global action is not going to stop climate change. The world needs to look harder at how to live with it' The Economist 25 November 2010; M. Stallworthy, 'Legislating against Climate Change: A UK Perspective on a Sisyphean Challenge' (2009) 72 Modern Law Review 412, 414.
97. Commission White Paper, Adapting to climate change: Towards a European framework for action COM(2009)147 final, 1 April 2009.
98. See I. Bartle, 'A Strategy for Better Climate Change Regulation: Towards a Public Interest Orientated Regulatory Regime' (2009) 18 European Politics 689.
99. 'Leaders Focus on How to Share Climate Aid Burden' ENDS Europe Daily 29 Oct 2009.
100. N. Stern, The Economics of Climate Change, the Stern Review (Cambridge: CUP, 2007).
101. Commission Recommendation of 28 April 2010 on the research joint programming initiative on agriculture, food security and climate change [2010] OJL 111/27; European Parliament Resolution of 4 February 2009 on 2050: The future begins today [2010] OJC 67E/44; Commission Green Paper on forest protection and information in the EU: Preparing forests for climate change COM(2010)66 final, 1 March 2010; Commission White Paper on adapting to climate changeCommission White Paper, Adapting to climate change: Towards a European framework for action COM(2009)147 final, 1 April 2009. 20 20 by 2020, n 47 above; European Parliament Resolution on Climate change [2007] OJC 287E/344.
102. J. Lefevere, 'A Climate of Change: an Analysis of Progress in EU and International Climate Change Policy' in J. Scott (ed), Environmental Protection. European Law and Governance (Oxford: OUP, 2009) 171, 183-184.
103. Z. X. Zhang, Reconstructing Climate Policy: How Best To Engage China and Other Developing Countries? East-West Centre Research Program 2003 at (last visited 1 August 2011).
104. cf Ellen Goodman's article in the Boston Globe in February 2007, comparing climate change deniers with Holocaust deniers: E. Goodman, 'No Change in Political Climate' The Boston Globe 9 February 2007.
105. See Commission Communication on 'Winning the Battle Against Climate Change' COM(2005)35 final 9 February 2005, Annex.
106. Commission Communication on 'Winning the Battle Against Climate Change' pt 7 'Doing nothing is not a sensible option'.
107. Commission Communication on 'Building a Global Climate Change Alliance between the European Union and poor developing countries most vulnerable to climate change' COM(2007)540 final, 18 September 2007. cf M. Paterson and M. Grubb, 'The International Politics of Climate Change' (1992) 68 International Affairs 296.
108. Commission White Paper on Adapting to Climate Change Commission White Paper, Adapting to climate change: Towards a European framework for action COM(2009)147 final, 1 April 2009.
109. The opening lines of '20 20 by 2020' are: '2007 marked a turning point for the European Union's climate and energy policy. Europe showed itself ready to give global leadership: to tackle climate change, to face up to the challenge of secure, sustainable and competitive energy, and to make the European economy a model for sustainable development in the 21st century' (n 47 above). cf K. Christer and C. Parker, 'Climate Change and the European Union's Leadership Moment: An Inconvenient Truth?' (2010) 48 Journal of Common Market Studies 923.
110. See M. Scheurs and Y. Thibergien, 'Multi-Level Reinforcement: Explaining European Union Leadership in Climate Change Mitigation' (2007) 7 Global Environmental Politics 19.
111. F. Yamin, 'The Role of the EU in Climate Negotiations' in J. Gupta and M. Grubb (eds), Climate Change and European Leadership: A Sustainable Role for Europe? (USA: Kluwer Academic Publishing, 2000).
112. cf S. Oberthur and C. Roche Kelly, 'EU Leadership in International Climate Change Policy: Achievement and Challenges' (2008) 43 The International Spectator 35, 39.
113. See the EU's sustainable growth policy at: (last visited 1 August 2011) and Commission Communication on the 'Analysis of Options to Move beyond 20% Emission Reduction and Assessing the Risk of Carbon Leakage' COM(2010)265 final, 25 May 2010. cf M. Grubb, 'Climate Change Impacts, Energy and Development' in F. Bourguignon and B. Pleskovic, Rethinking Infrastructure for Development (Washington DC: The World Bank, 2008) 89, 109.
114. European Parliament and Council Decision 406/2009/EC on the effort of Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Community's greenhouse gas reduction commitments up to 2020 [2009] OJL140/136. See also Commission Communication on 20 20 by 2020. Europe's Climate Change Opportunity COM(2008)30 final, 23 January 2008. At the point of writing, the prospects for the 30 per cent option being taken up are slim: the 2010 Cancun negotiations produced modest results on issues such as climate funding, forest protection and technology sharing, but stopped short of a renewed agreement on binding emission reduction targets. See Decisions adopted by COP 16 and CMP 6 at (last visited 1 August 2011). The recent republican party win in the US congressional elections further dampens the prospects of the US government signing up to an ambitious Kyoto II in the coming year. See D. Keating, 'US Election Leaves EU Isolated on Climate Policy' ENDS Europe 5 November 2010.
115. cf O'Malley on the 'enterprising subject'P. O'Malley, 'Uncertain Subjects: Risk, Liberalism and Contract' (2001) 29 Economy and Society 465; and R. Brockhaus, 'Risk-Taking Propensity of Entrepreneurs' (1980) 23 Academy of Management Journal 509.
116. See Commission Communication on 'Winning the Battle Against Climate Change'; European Environment Agency, Climate Change: The Cost of Inaction and the Cost of Adaptation (EEA Technical Report Nr 13/2007).
117. Commission Communication on the Precautionary Principle COM(2000)1 final, 2 February 2000.
118. EU regulatory regimes display a surprisingly high degree of stability in their choice of risk control techniques. Effectiveness deficits are typically explained as deficiencies in the reach or speed of regulatory decision-making, or as failures in implementation and enforcement. Hence, they are remedied by tightening up standards, streamlining and centralising decision-making and implementation, and stepping up enforcement. For example, for all its claims to innovation, the risk control strategies laid down in REACH regime show a high degree of continuity with those of the preceding regulatory framework. See V. Heyvaert, 'Guidance Without Constraint: Assessing the Impact of the Precautionary Principle on the European Community's Chemicals Policy' (2006) 6 Yearbook of European Environmental Law 27, 52. Recent reforms of the EU pesticide control regime betray a similar degree of instrumental continuity ('New Pesticide Approval Regime Begins in Earnest' ENDS Europe Daily 14 June 2011). On the judicial front, the Greenpeace case offers an interesting illustration of the European Court's effectiveness assumptions regarding EU risk regulation. The Court denied that it might be appropriate for a Member State to halt an EU decision-making process once it had been set in motion, reasoning that the EU regime was fully equipped to cope with risks, including risks that came to light after the process had started. The fact that the regulatory regime in question was contained in the 1990 Directive on Deliberate Release of GMOs, which had failed to deliver acceptable GMO authorisation outcomes and had been effectively defunct for several years by the time of the ECJ's ruling in the Greenpeace case, underscores the extent to which the ECJ's belief in risk regulatory effectiveness is a matter of principle rather than experience. Case C-6/99, Association Greenpeace France v Ministere de l'Agriculture et de la Peche [2000] ECR I-1651.
119. See Commission Communication on 'Winning the Battle Against Climate Change' COM(2005)35 final 9 February 2005, Annex.
120. Council Decision 2002/358/EC concerning the approval, on behalf of the European Community, of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the joint fulfilment of commitments thereunder [2002] OJL130/1; Decision 406/2009/EC, n 47 above.
121. cf H. Bulkeley, 'Governing Climate Change: the Politics of Risk Society?' (2001) 26 Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 430, 431 (regarding climate change on the Australian political and regulatory agenda).
122. Regulation (EC) No 258/97 concerning Novel Foods and Novel Food Ingredients [1997] OJL 43/1.
123. P. Huber, 'The Old-New Division in Risk Regulation' (1983) 69 Virginia Law Review 1025, 1028.
124. H. J. Schnellhuber, M. Molina, N. Stern, V. Huber and S. Kadner (eds), Global Sustainability. A Nobel Cause (Cambridge: CUP, 2010).
125. See Commission Communication on 'Winning the Battle Against Climate Change' COM(2005)35 final 9 February 2005, Annex. cf D. Farber, 'Confronting Uncertainty under NEPA' (2009) 8 Issues in Legal Scholarship: Iss 3 (Balancing the Risks: Managing Technology and Dangerous Climate Change) Article 3 at (last visited 1 August 2011).
126. G. de Burca, 'The Quest for Legitimacy in the European Union' (1996) 59 Modern Law Review 349, 366-368.
127. See the separate studies and communications on climate change and forestry (n 65 above), agriculture and food security (n 65 above), and biodiversity (Commission Communication on 'Our life insurance, our natural capital: an EU biodiversity strategy to 2020' COM(2011)244 final, 3 May 2011.
128. 2 emissions from light-duty vehicles [2009] OJL 140/1 (the Passenger Car Regulation).
129. 2 emissions from light-duty vehicles [2009] OJL 140/1 (the Passenger Car Regulation) (listing review data).
130. See K. Kulovesi, E. Morgera, M. Munoz, 'Environmental Integration and Multi-faceted International Dimensions of EU law: Unpacking the EU's 2009 Climate and Energy Package' (2011) 48 Common Market Law Review 829.
131. See citations between H. Rothstein, M. Huber and G. Gaskell, 'A Theory of Risk Colonization: the Spiralling Regulatory Logics of Societal and Institutional Risk' (2006) 35 Economy and Society 91, and J. Corkin. 'Science, Legitimacy and the Law: Regulating Risk Regulation Judiciously in the European Community' (2008) 33 European Law Review 359; V. Heyvaert, 'Facing the Consequences of the Precautionary Principle in European Community Law' (2006) European Law Review 196; V. Heyvaert, 'Trade and the Environment: Proportionality Substituted?' (2001) 13 Journal of Environmental Law 392; Case C-473/98 Chemikalieninspektionen v Toolex Alpha AB [2000] ECR I-5681; Case C-309/02 Radlberger [2004] ECR I-11763; Case C-320/03, Commission v Austria [2005].
132. cf G. Rowe, 'Tools for the Control of Political and Administrative Agents: Impact Assessment and Administrative Governance in the European Union' in H. Hoffmann and A. Türk, EU Administrative Governance (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2006) 448-511.
133. See more generally J. Adams, Risk (London: UCL Press, 1995); U. Beck, Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity (London: Sage Publications, 1992).
134. B. Hutter, The Attractions of Risk-based Regulation: Accounting for the Emergence of Risk Ideas in Regulation (CARR Discussion Paper 33, LSE) 3-4.
135. H. Rothstein, P. Irving, T. Walden, and R. Yearsley, 'The Risks of Risk-Based Regulation: Insights from the Environmental Policy Domain' (2006) 32 Environment International 1065.
136. N. Pidgeon and C. Butler, 'Risk Analysis and Climate Change' (2009) 18 Environmental Politics 670.
137. I. Lorenzoni, N. Pidgeon and R. O'Connor, 'Dangerous Climate Change: the Role for Risk Research' (2005) 25 Risk Analysis 1387.
138. M. Granger Morgan, M. Kandlikar, J. Risbey, and H. Dowlatabadi, 'Why Conventional Tools for Policy Analysis are often Inadequate for Problems of Global Change' (1999) 41 Climatic Change 270.
139. H. Bulkeley, 'Governing Climate Change: the Politics of Risk Society?' (2001) 26 Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 442-444.
140. H. Rothstein, M. Huber and G. Gaskell, 'A Theory of Risk Colonization: the Spiralling Regulatory Logics of Societal and Institutional Risk' (2006) 35 Economy and Society 91.
141. Mark Stallworthy comments that law-makers address new problems, including those posed by climate change, against a broader picture of regulatory evolution. He continues that this evolution 'has seen a developing emphasis on risk-based management. This can be characterised by features that include ex ante setting of clear objectives, across identified timelines, supported by transparent and participatory processes.' See M. Stallworthy, 'Legislating against Climate Change: A UK Perspective on a Sisyphean Challenge' (2009) 72 Modern Law Review 418.
142. cf D. Kysar, 'Climate Change, Cultural Transformation and Comprehensive Rationality' (2004) 31 Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review 555.
143. Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources [2009] OJL 140/16 and Directive 2002/91/EC on the energy performance of buildings [2003] OJL 1/65 and Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the energy performance of buildings COM(2008)780 final, 13 November 2008 Directive 2005/32/EC establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-using products [2005] OJL 191/29; Directive 2006/32/EC on energy end-use efficiency and energy services [2006] OJL 114/64.
144. Art 12 of Reg 443/2009 (n 57 above) requires the adoption of Commission measures to regulate innovative technologies by 2010. No such measures have yet been issued.
145. cf K. Bickerstaff, I. Lorenzoni, N. Pidgeon, W. Poortinga and P. Simmons, 'Reframing Nuclear Power in the UK Energy Debate: Nuclear Power, Climate Change Mitigation and Radioactive Waste' (2008) 17 Public Understanding of Science 145.
146. Directive 2009/31/EC on the geological storage of carbon dioxide [2009] OJL 140/114.
147. CCS Directive, Art 3(5) Directive 2009/31/EC on the geological storage of carbon dioxide [2009] OJL 140/114.
148. cf M. Babiker, 'Climate Policy, Market Structure and Carbon Leakage' (2005) 65 Journal of International Economics 421.
149. F. Harvey, 'Barroso tries to defuse emissions trading row... by quoting the Kinks' The Guardian 18 June 2011.
150. M. Zinn, 'Adapting to Climate Change: Environmental Law in a Warmer World' (2007) 34 Ecology Law Quarterly 61, 64.
151. See Commission Communication on 'Options for an EU Vision and Target for Biodiversity Beyond 2010' COM(2010)4 final, 19 January 2010; A. Ross, 'Modern Interpretations of Sustainable Development' (2009) 36 Journal of Law and Society 32, 44.
152. Commission Communication on 'Our life insurance, our natural capital: an EU biodiversity strategy to 2020' COM(2011)244 final, 3 May 2011.
153. See 'British economist tears EU climate policy to pieces' ENDS Europe Daily 4 September 2009, reporting that 'Dieter Helm, a professor at Oxford University and chair of the UK environment ministry's academic panel, says the climate and energy package is profoundly flawed because its targets are entirely political and do not make economic sense.'.
154. D. Chalmers, 'Gauging the Cumbersomeness of EU Law' (2009) 62 Current Legal Problems 405.
155. M. Lee, EU Environmental Law: Challenges, Change and Decision-Making (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2005); 239-267.
156. D Chalmers, 'Risk, Anxiety and the European Mediation of the Politics of Life' (2005) 30 European Law Review 649.
157. 'European Leaders Clash over Pledges on Global Warming' The Guardian 11 December 2008; 'Poland Blocks Adoption of Low Carbon Roadmap' ENDS Europe Daily 21 June 2011.
158. 'EU Struggles Toward Climate Package Consensus' ENDS Europe Daily 4 December 2008.