Polluter-pays Principle Research Articles

Application of the Polluter-pays Principle in Russian Legislation on Climate Change: Problems and Prospects

The Russian Federation is the fourth largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. The article is a study of how these emissions are monitored in Russia. In the framework of the polluter-pays principle (ppp), the current Russian legislation on pollutants provides for payment only for methane emissions. No payments are established for any of the other greenhouse gases. The authors conclude that, at present, Russian legislation does not regulate action against climate change, although many political and legal documents are being adopted aimed at adapting to the effects of climate change. A draft statute “On State Regulation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Absorption and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” is analysed. Despite the fact that this draft law is strongly opposed by the affected industries, the authors conclude that the adoption of this law and the creation of a targeted national climate fund will contribute to the implementation of the ppp in Russia for the purpose of combating climate change.

Consistency between the Granting of State Aid and the Polluter-Pays Principle: Aid Aimed at Mitigating Climate Change

Since 2009, the EU ets Directive set up a general rule for the auctioning of emission allowances. It is subject to a number of exemptions. The transitional allocation of free allowances in the electricity sector, and in general the granting of free or below-market-price allowances, are caught by the tfeu prohibition on grants of state aid. However, the EU legislature and its executive—the European Commission—are empowered to grant the EU member states exemptions in order to correct market failures. At face value, such arrangements seem to run contrary to the polluter-pays principle on account that state aid subsidizes emissions of greenhouse gases instead of internalizing their costs into the price of goods and services delivered by the recipient installations. This article explores how such arrangements amount to state aid and analyses the manner in which the exemptions are consistent with the polluter-pays principle.

Social Cost Benefit Analysis of Port Handling Plans for Annex IV waste of MARPOL: A Case Study in Las Palmas Port

This paper analyzes the effectiveness of Directive (EU) 2019/883 from the social interest perspective. To achieve this aim, it assesses the performance of the sewage treatment plan (Annex IV of MARPOL) in Las Palmas Port and the accomplishment of the Cost Recovery System. This involves reviewing the mandatory fees for landing the sewage in the port, the sewage treatment costs and the environmental impact of the treated effluent from the vessels (environmental benefits) and addressing technical difficulties in order to meet the normative standard required from the vessels’ sewage in the framework of Las Palmas Port. Through a cost–benefit analysis not only the current protocol for the reception and treatment of Annex IV waste in the port is assessed, but also alternative waste treatment plans (sewage routes) are discussed in terms of social interest. The results of the paper show that only when the treated sewage is reused are the costs assumed to implement the directive overtaken by the benefits gained from complying with it. Consequently, the port authorities should address their efforts in this direction, as should the policy makers, who should integrate in the international normative the collaboration of the on-board sewage treatment plants to meet the PPP (Polluter Pays Principle).

Industrial And Community Waste Management: Global Perspective

Purpose:The review focused on the management of industrial and communal wastes. Industrial and communal waste management practices are not uniform among countries; urban and rural areas, residential, and industrial sectors, all take different approaches.
 Methodology: Industrial wastes can be classified on basis of their characteristics; Waste in dissolved and pollutant is in liquid form, e.g. dairy industry; Waste in solid form, but a number of pollutants within are in the liquid or fluid form, e.g. washing of minerals or crockery industry or coal.
 Results: Industrial waste is produced as a result of industrial activities, including materials rendered useless during manufacturing process such as that of food and chemical industries, mills, factories, and mining operations. Dirt and gravel, concrete and masonry, solvents, chemicals, scrap lumber, scrap metal, oil, etc. are types of industrial waste. Industrial or community waste may be liquid, solid, or gaseous. It may be absolutely hazardous, mirror entry, or non-hazardous waste. Hazardous waste can be toxic, ignitable, corrosive, radioactive, or reactive. Industrial waste may pollute the soil, the air, or nearby water bodies, ending up in the sea.
 Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: Waste management is important component in a business' ability to maintain the ISO14001 accreditation. The ISO14001 standard encourages companies to ensure green environment and improve their environmental efficiencies every year by eliminating waste through the resource recovery practices. The principles of waste management puts some factors into consideration such as waste hierarchy, life-cycle of a product, resource efficiency, and polluter-pays principle. Common waste disposal and management methods include incineration, landfill, recycling, re-use, pyrolysis, resource recovery, composting, among others. An important method of waste management in industries and communities is the prevention of waste materials being created, better known as waste reduction. The waste management industry has adopted new technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, GPS, etc., which enable the collection of better quality data without the using estimation or manual data entry.

The Polluter-Pays Principle in Climate Change Law: an Economic Appraisal

There is a lively debate among scholars and policymakers on whether either consumers or producers should be seen as responsible for pollution caused in the production and consumption of traded goods. In this article, we argue that, in conformity with intuitive conceptions of causation, the economic incidence of a Pigouvian tax can be seen as a measure of the relative contribution to pollution of consumers and producers. Taking this perspective on the polluter-pays principle can help increase ambition in climate change action because it reduces the relevance of the question “Who is the polluter?” in climate change negotiations and enables a focus instead on the issue of “What can be done?” to reduce carbon emissions.

Polluter Pays Principle in power production to gradually phase-out fossil fuels in Italy

The paper provides an analysis of Italian environmental taxes on electricity production and consumption in order to verify their consistency with the Polluters Pays Principle (PPP). The environmental external costs of air emissions generated by Italian thermal power plants are compared to environmental taxes paid by the same plants (fuel excise duties, SO2/NOx tax, ETS and levy on energy producers). As a basis for the comparison, the paper applies the methods for environmental external costs assessment recommended by the National Guidelines for the Evaluation of Investment Projects (2017). The PPP comparison highlights that the external costs related to thermal power plants emissions amount to about € 9,400 million (53.8 euro per MWh produced) whereas only € 350 million are actually paid through the above-mentioned environmental taxes (3.8% of the external costs generated). Indeed, the environmental taxes directly paid by all electricity customers in their bills (excise duty on electricity, system charges for subsidising renewable energy sources) are of the same order of magnitude of the external costs of power plants. However, seen from the PPP point of view, these two taxes have the drawback of environmental tax payment being made also by green customers, i.e. whose electricity is bought with the guarantee of being produced from renewable energy sources. The authors argue that environmental taxes directly falling on electricity producers are consistent with the PPP and provide in principle a better price signal to electricity markets, rather than environmental taxes directly paid by customers. Shifting current environmental taxes from electricity consumption to production would support the implementation of two of the main targets of the National Energy Strategy (2017), such as the progressive phase-out of coal at 2025 and the 55% RES electric target at 2030, while increasing the coherence and fairness of taxes paid on electricity.

The Role of Environmental Taxes as a Fiscal Instrument for Mitigation of Environmental Pollution: Lithuanian Case

Environmental taxes are an important fiscal instrument for a country, as they help in the effortstowardsthe environmental policy goals. Taxes based on the polluter-pays principle influence the behaviour of market participants by discouraging them from undertaking an environmentally detrimental activity and by attracting additional budget funds for mitigation of the consequences of this kind of activity. Environmental protection is one of the priority areas in the Republic of Lithuania, meaning that it is highly important to assess the effect of the environmental taxes on the environmental pollution in the country and improve them following the best practice of other countries. The methodology of empirical research is based on the methods of descriptive statistics. According to the official statistics of Lithuania, majority of the environmental taxes collected and the maximum volumes of the emissions into the atmosphere are generated by the following groups of economic activities: agriculture, forestry and fishing; manufacturing; wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles. The study of trends in the environmental tax dynamics in Lithuania and other countries has demonstrated that Lithuania is the country which moves towards an environmental tax reform. Nonetheless, it is important to reconsider the country’s environmental tax rates and tax benefits and provide for the incentives for the groups of economic activities which are characterised by the highest GDP potential and lower environmental pollution.

Contamination of groundwater: obligations of non-responsible parties

In the context of the National Interest Site (NIS) of Venice (North East, Italy), one of the largest petrochemical settlements in Europe, the presence of various significant historical contaminations of soils and groundwater as well as the proximity of different productive sites, have given rise to several complex situations when defining the responsibility for the contamination of groundwater. The identification of the site owner/operator’s duties is of primary importance in defining civil and penal liabilities. In order to favor the recovery of dismissed former production sites, and avoid the propagation of contaminated groundwater in adjacent sites, to highlight any contamination caused by background values (natural contamination) and to apply the European regulation on environmental crimes [EU-Directive 2008/99/EC of 19/11/2008 on the protection of the environment through criminal law. EU O.J. no. L328 6/12/2008], it is fundamental to present a clear operational framework of the prevention measures to be implemented. This also extends to any environmental safety measures that need to be applied and the specific liabilities incurred in view of the decision of the European Court of Justice of 4/03/2015 [ECJ (European Court of Justice). 2015. Decision no. 534 del 4/03/2015. Case C-534/13] which states the need to apply the EU Polluter Pays Principle (PPP). Moreover a historical outlook of the activities carried out on the site and the identification of specific tracers of the contamination source appear to be key elements. The case study of an area heavily contaminated with organo-chlorinated compounds in the NIS of Venice has been chosen, given the different interests of the owners and their concurrent duties, as well as the economic, administrative and technical impediments to recovering the areas for productive use. Organo-chlorinated solvents had been extensively used and can currently supply a fingerprint of the source of contamination. The analytic method applied for this study refers to Italian National guidelines [CNR–IRSA, APAT (Italian National Environmental Protection Agency). 2003. Analytical methods for water, no. 29/2003, Rome. (accessed January 30, 2019)], based on the Gas chromatography technique. The main contaminants detected are the following: Trichlorethylene and Tetrachloroethylene, Vinyl Chloride, 1,1- Dichlorethylene and 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane. Remediation appears bound to complex technical and legal issues which have been analysed in the Italian and EU context of environmental forensics practices.

Introduction of the equality principle in waste management economics

The study illustrates how commonly known business economic models and methods, as wellas the Polluter-Pays Principle, can be applied to industrial and construction wastemanagement so as to facilitate environmental optimisation of industrial and constructionwaste fractionation, Conclusions are drawn stating that the use of altered economic models isviable as a basis for industrial and construction waste assessment. This is aimed at makingindustry act in a manner truly in accordance with the conception of a sustainable developmentaccording to the shift of waste management paradigms proposed by the author.

How to Comply with the Paris Agreement Temperature Goal: Global Carbon Pricing According to Carbon Budgets

Avoiding irreversible climate change as effectively as possible is one of the most pressing challenges of society. Carbon pricing that is uniformly valid on a global and cross-sectoral basis represents a cost-efficient policy tool to meet this challenge. Carbon pricing allows external costs to be allocated or internalized on a polluter-pays principle. It is shown that a global emissions cap-and-trade system is the most suitable market-based instrument for reducing global emissions levels, in line with the temperature goal set by the Paris Agreement. A proposal for its design is presented in this paper. This instrument encourages worldwide measures, with the lowest marginal abatement cost, according to a pre-defined reduction path. Thereby, it ensures compliance with a specified remaining carbon budget to meet a certain temperature limit in a cost-efficient manner. Possible reduction paths are presented in this paper. Weaknesses in the design of existing emissions trading systems (ETS), such as the EU ETS, are identified and avoided in the proposed instrument. The framework solves several problems of today’s climate change policies, like the free rider problem, carbon leakage, rebound effects or the green paradox. The introduction of a global uniform carbon pricing instrument and its concrete design should be the subject of policy, especially at the United Nations climate change conferences, as soon as possible in order to allow for rapid implementation. If a global ETS with a uniform carbon price could be introduced, additional governmental regulations with regard to carbon emissions would become obsolete.

The Legal Obligation of States to Price Carbon Emissions

The Paris Agreement obliges states to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions more than they would have otherwise. It thereby obliges them to incur a cost, or pay a price, for those emissions mitigated because of the Agreement. In this sense, states are under an obligation to price at least some of their emissions. The general rule holds even if we exclude the United States (which has announced its withdrawal from the Agreement) and those less wealthy countries whose domestic mitigation effort may not be affected by the Agreement in the short term. Other elements of the Agreement, detailed in this article, also signify a treaty-led elevation of the polluter-pays principle in the climate change regime. I argue that the principle is increasingly being recognized as creating a positive obligation on states to act. The logical endpoint of this progressive development of the law is that every “polluter state” must accept that it will incur a cost for the emission of greenhouse gases in its territory, as a matter of law. An emerging international legal compulsion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by pricing them is not to be made light of in a field that is almost devoid of substantive law. Recognition of the principle’s legal weight may help to speed up and deepen the global response to climate change.

Cooperative control of regional transboundary air pollutants

BackgroundAfter food and water, clean air is essential for continuity of life on the planet. Complex trans-boundary air pollution problem is often linked to sustenance and eutrophication. Air pollution problem has no universal conventions like Montreal and Kyoto protocols in case of refrigerants, except regional cooperative solutions. Polluter-pays principle is typically restricted to the source country. Under article 16, International Environment Law mentions the polluter-pay principle without any legitimate power to mitigate the transboundary air pollution risks. Mongolia, Botswana, and Pakistan are ranked as the most polluted countries, although their accumulative emissions are lesser than any of the coal power producing countries.ResultsChina, South Africa, and India produce 68–79% of their electricity using coal-fired power plants, emitting harmful pollutants into the common air. Regional winds drive upwind smog into their adjacent downwind countries like Pakistan. This paper compares the published transboundary air pollutant flows data of the most polluted countries (Mongolia, Botswana, Pakistan) with the cleanest ones (Estonia, Mauritius, Australia).ConclusionsAir pollution externality problem can only be solved either by regional cooperation or global environment law which yet does not exist. Drawing an analogy from water contamination laws, this work proposes an extension of the polluter-pays principle to transboundary air pollutants to compensate the public losses. We should collectively go for the international environmental law as we cannot divide air like land. Industrialization near the border may be banned to avoid air pollutant migrations to neighbors.

Waste Composition Evaluation for Solid Waste Management Guideline in Highland Rural Tourist Area in Thailand

This study investigated municipal solid waste generation rate and its compositionincluding the level of knowledge, attitude and practice on municipal solid waste (MSW) management of highland rural tourist area in Chiang Rai Province, Mae Salong Nok Sub-district, Thailand in order to propose the guidelines for effective MSW in rural tourist areas. Samples of MSW were collected during weekdays and several weekends, and separated into 4 categories: general,recyclable, organic and hazardous waste. About 40 % of the MSW consisted of organic waste; plastic bags were widely present, comprising more than 60 % of the mass of the general waste group. Level of knowledge, attitude and practice(KAP) on MSW was evaluated using questionnaires. While respondents scored 80 % and 76 %, respectively, on their level of knowledge of, and attitude to MSW, practice fell far short at only 37 %. The results led to a recommendation to strengthen waste separation at source, implement waste reduction and recycling concepts to reduce the volume of plastic bags, and introduce composting of food waste. The study also highlights economic and financial benefits of waste recycling. Additional value-added could be derived from the organic waste recycling program by promoting production of bioextracts and compost at household level, in order to reduce the amount of organic wastes and carbon emissions. The general and recyclable wastes could also be converted to energy as refuse-derived fuel 2 (RDF-2); the estimated average heating value of this RDF-2 was 23.56 MJ kg-1. To sustain MSW management in tourist areas, environmental education and environmental awareness campaigns are needed, using the appropriate local languages for communication, and introduction of a fairer system based on the polluter-pays principle for the business sector.

The creation of vehicle waste management system in Moscow

Introduction. Moscow City is one of the greatest megapolises of the world and the largesttransport system in Europe relating to scales of its development, amount of exploited transportvehicles. volumes of passenger and freight traffics.Autotransport has become the most powerful source of negative influence onenvironment in Moscow recently. The significant increase in number of cars is the main reasonof such situation taking into account share of old transport in the total number of vehicles , slowdevelopment of transport infrastructure, not always satisfactory level of cars technicalcondition. The problem of environmental pollution by motor transport is manifested not only ininfluence of functioning transporto, but also in negative influence of end-of-life cars.At present. some enterprises and organizations of Moscow region make proposals ondevelopments for improvement of the existing system of collection and treatment of vehicles.Making conception provides creation of a regional system for abandoned and end-of-lifevehicles. The technological scheme consists of stages of collection, preliminary preparation,metallurgy or shredding treatment and metal/metalloid scrap sorting. The Conception includes themain technico-econm ical indicators of the proposed system of processing.Making the complexes of conversion of vehicle waste is a large investment project,requiring not only anraction of significant funds, but also creation of a centralaized system,allowing guarantee the arrival of waste flow.The aim of the project is to develop organizational, financial, legal mechanisms andtechnical measures for making a motivated system. It must be based on the Polluter PaysPrinciple and consequent conversion of cars wracks into commercial goods. This work includesalso a forecast for transport waste volumes. Without these data it is impossible to make planningfor development of the system.

Sustainable cybersecurity? Rethinking approaches to protecting energy infrastructure in the European High North

Rapidly increasing digitization has positively contributed to economic and social development and helped increasing environmental protection. However, it also made socio-technical systems and ecosystems more vulnerable to cyber-threats. Critical infrastructure (CI) in the energy sector is particularly vulnerable to such threats. Remoteness, seasonal darkness, and severe climate that is becoming less predictable due to global climate change–the kind of conditions present in the Arctic European High North (EHN), for example–amplify the impacts of a potential cyber-attack. Although these exceptionally critical infrastructure conditions (ECIC), as we term them, pose inordinate and immense governance challenges, the existing national and international legal frameworks treat them in a fragmented manner. In this paper, we argue for rethinking the existing governance structures and propose an approach that connects cybersecurity and environmental governance. We outline the contours of a coherent and cohesive risk-based, pluralistic, and polycentric legal framework that we see as a critical part of the new ECIC governance regime. We draw upon the concept of sustainable development and the precautionary and polluter-pays principles of environmental law to propose three guiding principles for this framework.

Design of Essential Elements Involved in China’s Carbon-Tax Taxation System and Its Implementation Strategies

Based on a series of theoretical study of Pigou tax principle, polluter pays principle (PPP), double dividend theory, tax incidence and tax burden transfer, carbon tax excess burden, and the Laffer curve, this article determines the design of essential elements involved in carbon tax system, including the scope of carbon tax, the objects of Taxation, the tax payer, the tax link, the tax rate, and the tax preference, etc. Meanwhile, some principles are proposed when implementing strategies, that is, the principle of combination of efficiency and equity, the principle of tax rate dynamic adjustment, and the principle of tax neutrality.

Evaluación de la actividad de reciclaje en Lima Norte

In order to evaluate the recycling activity of materials in North Lima, the following were applied: (1) surveys, using the probabilistic sampling method with the simple random type for all the actors of the recycling pyramid, and (2) interviews with open and simple type to the authorities and actors of the recycling chain (in the period between January 2015 and December 2016). It was determined that the product that demands the greatest interest of the productive chain of local recycling is plastic for its cost and quantity, the other elements complement recycling. The results allowed to determine who receives the highest income is the exporter PEN 6,850.00, and throughout the recycling chain the local governments of North Lima and the actors of the recycling chain do not develop a joint work by: Resistance of insertion of public policies within the framework of existing regulations, lack of data and information, there is sectoral disorganization, disobedience to authority prevails and supervision, oversight and sanctions are lacking. In conclusion, there is a gap in environmental assessment, mainly in plastic because the participation system in recycling does not depend on economic incentives causing a decrease in the market, the polluter-pays principle is not applied, and there is informality in the development of activity. Therefore, the sustainability of the recycling activity in Lima North will be possible as long as it coexists: Articulation of development.

The Role of Public Interest Litigation in the Achievement of Sustainable Waste Management in Ethiopia

This research assessed the role of public interest litigation in the achievement of sustainable waste management in the Addis Ababa Administration (AAA) of Ethiopia. It employed a single country case-oriented comparative research design, and data triangulation was used to establish the validity of the findings. The research first shows Ethiopia’s commitment to sustainable waste management, implementing environmental tax and the command-and-control instruments of the polluter-pays principle and public interest litigation within the context of environmental justice. Secondly, it shows that public interest litigation is one of the innovative techniques in the struggle against waste mismanagement across all legal systems. Thirdly, it demonstrates the potential role of public interest litigation in Ethiopia in encouraging the federal and regional environmental protection and management organs to implement environmental tax and command-and-control instruments. Fourthly, it uncovers that public interest litigation is not fully compatible with the Civil Procedure Code of Ethiopia. Fifthly, it shows the failure of the judiciary system of Ethiopia to accommodate environmental courts and tribunals that flexibly and innovatively adopt public interest litigation. Sixthly, it reveals that, in Ethiopia, the scope of public interest standing is highly restrictive for Civil Society Organizations (CSO). Finally, it implies that the legal viability and administrative feasibility of environmental public interest litigation in Ethiopia is in its infancy, and its crystallization is partly contingent on the cautious review of the Civil Procedure Code and CSO laws and on greening the judiciary system.

A Participatory Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis to Tackle a Complex Environmental Problem Involving Cultural Water Heritage and Nature

Multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods have shown advantages in supporting decision-making with problems that confront conflicting objectives. However, current applications to complex environmental problems featuring the dynamic social sphere, particularly problems involving cultural heritage and nature, have yet to substantially reflect this. The dynamic social sphere reflects the demand for scenario forecasting in decision-making support. This knowledge gap has not been addressed sufficiently in MCDA research. A participatory MCDA method is hence proposed as a merger with Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) as the scenario forecasting. The MCDA is then carried out to tackle a complex environmental problem caused by traditional food production in a historic town, Daxi in Taiwan. The result reveals a remarkable willingness to support this issue of a historically significant industry causing detriment to environment (with WTP estimate of 128,700,000 USD from the public) and suggests a plan that applies multiple policy instruments rather than following a potentially adverse polluter-pays principle. This manifests the authors’ argument that recognition of heritage significance has dramatically affected selection of policy instruments and provides a critical recommendation to the local government which has struggled to find solutions. The proposed MCDA also highlights its participatory aspect for addressing issues involving cultural heritage, supported by several key steps, in particular the intervention-impact value tree building, the scenario forecasting and the sensitivity analysis.

The Polluter-Pays Principle in International Climate Change Law: Are States Under an Obligation to Price Carbon Emissions?

In a 2010 paper Feng and Buhi suggested that the Copenhagen Accord of 2009 had demoted the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and “silently” elevated the polluter-pays principle to a dominant position in international climate law. As evidence they cited the fact that some non-Annex I parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, including China, had taken positions previously associated only with Annex I parties, in particular on the provision of climate finance to (other) developing countries. Now, eight years later, with the Paris Agreement erected on the conceptual foundation of the Copenhagen Accord, I ask whether the Feng-Buhi hypothesis has gained plausibility. Certainly, the Paris Agreement obliges states to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions more than they would have otherwise. It thereby obliges them to incur a cost, or pay a price, for those emissions mitigated because of the Agreement. In this sense, states are under an obligation to price at least some of their emissions. (The general rule holds even if we exclude the United States and those less wealthy countries whose domestic mitigation effort may not be affected by the Agreement in the short term.) Other elements of the Agreement, detailed in this paper, also signify a treaty-led elevation of the polluter-pays principle in the climate change regime. Has it now therefore gained a legal foothold in the regime, if only implicitly? An alternative narrative is that the parties to the Agreement have agreed to reduce their emissions in response to, not any legal imperative, but what we might call the physical necessity of avoiding global warming of 2°C or above. A stronger counter-narrative points to certain political sensitivities that conspire to keep the polluter-pays principle’s ascendancy quiet, if not entirely “silent”. In practice, however, as I argue, the principle is increasingly being recognized as delivering a positive obligation for states to act. The logical endpoint of this progressive development of the law is that every “polluter-state” is to accept that the emission of greenhouse gases in its territory must come at a cost to the state, as a matter of law. An emerging legal compulsion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by pricing them is not to be made light of in a field that is almost devoid of substantive law. Open acceptance of the principle may help to speed up and deepen the global response to climate change.