Six PhD candidates, all part of SteR, have started research projects focused on different aspects of sustainability and public law. They each focus on different area(s) of law within the wider field of public law: environmental law, constitutional law, EU law, administrative law, migration law and international criminal law.
Each of the research projects is summarized briefly below. The PhD candidates strive to collaborate where possible, to deepen their understanding of the often complex and multidisciplinary legal questions and issues related to sustainability and public law, and to share their findings and best practices. Another aim of this collaboration is to increase the outreach of the research projects, both within the academic community and to the general public.
‘The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment: towards a new Dutch fundamental right?’ - Sandra Arntz
In 2022 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe called on member states to reflect on the nature, content and implications of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and to actively consider recognizing the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right at the national level. This study explores the extent to which the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is protected in the Netherlands, and what the Netherlands can learn from the choices and considerations of countries that have already adequately shaped a fundamental right to a clean and/or healthy and/or sustainable environment.
‘Carbon sequestration: a legal examination of its possibilities and difficulties’ – Sjoerd Bakker
This research project examines the legal aspects of carbon sequestration in the Netherlands. CO2 has a negative effect on the climate. That effect can be lowered by reducing carbon emissions at source. However, reduction at source is insufficient to achieve climate neutrality in the future. Forests, plants and the earth's soil can sequester carbon. Preserving (and developing) natural sources for carbon sequestration is necessary for a climate-neutral society. Carbon sequestration is regulated at member state level through the LULUCF regulation. In addition, there are numerous legal issues surrounding carbon certificates.
‘Eco-eco migration: climate change and labour migration in the EU’ – Samuel Ballin
This research project examines the position of third-country national migrant workers in relation to economic-ecological pressures and vulnerabilities, and the protection of related rights and resilience under EU migration law. The project considers diverse examples of labour migration, bringing together legal analysis and new empirical data to develop fresh insights into the climate-migration nexus beyond the thorny question of causation. It seeks to understand such vulnerabilities as they are experienced by migrant workers in practice, and to analyse the role of EU migration law as a framework for adaptation and protection.
‘The what, why and how of prosecuting environmental harm on the basis of international criminal law’ – Sophie van Dongen
This research project focuses on the possible prosecution of environmental harm on the basis of international criminal law. It is centred around three main research questions:
i. For the purpose of the application of international criminal law, who are the perpetrators and victims of, and what types of conduct can lead to environmental harm?
ii. To what extent is the prosecution of environmental harm on the basis of international criminal law justified by international human rights and the international harm principle?
iii. To what extent can international criminal law provide a basis for the prosecution of perpetrators of environmental harm?
‘The right to repair smart products in the EU from a twin transition perspective’- Seema Mohammed Murtuza
In 2019 the EU introduced the concept of the twin transition to synergistically deal with the challenges surrounding climate change and digital innovation. The twin transition refers to the possibility of using digital technologies to achieve sustainability goals and/or ensuring that digital technologies themselves are more sustainable. Using the case study of the right to repair smartphones, the research focuses on the legal aspects of the twin transition to identify how the digital and green aims can be balanced and what principles should guide laws on the twin transition.
Martyna Stećko's project description is to follow at a later date.