No abstract

When translated into concrete policy, any allocation of emissions leads to the attribution of emissions rights based on distributive justice (even if the policy was previously examined in terms of utilitarianism at the philosophical level). Consequently, the distributive justice approach legitimizes the corresponding amount of emissions. If a certain level of emissions can receive emissions rights, provided they are compatible with a certain emissions budget, to allocate emissions rights when the dangerous concentration level has been overshot could understate the need to preserve the functioning of a “balanced” climate system. From the perspective of Foucault’s archaeology of knowledge, and with the purpose of assessing the epistemology of climate justice, it will be possible to question the possible importation of the mode of production of norms of social law into climate mitigation justice. Additionally, it will be questioned whether the amount of anthropogenic emissions rights can be provided by “the laws of nature” and whether and how the no‑harm principle can contribute to the epistemological relevance of the narrative of climate justice.

No abstract

In September 2015, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a new directive (2015/1513) that amended two existing directives in order to bolster the production of advanced fuels, biofuels, and ``CO2-fuels'' in the transport sector. The combination of carbon dioxide and hydrogen (obtained by means of electrolysis with surpluses of renewable electricity) produces synthetic and renewable fuels that can easily be stored and transported in existing infrastructures. It is also possible to use CO2-enriched microalgae as a feedstock for biofuel. To the extent these advanced fuels can be substituted for fossil energy, they could be helpful in the context of climate mitigation and energy transition, provided the regulatory framework is geared towards such an ambitious purpose. Our comments address the relevance of legislative activity around such a strategy, mainly what kind of legal provisions are already taking shape at the European Union level. We discuss the ability of European directives to manage CO2-fuels and biofuels made from microalgae with CO2 enrichment. This subject is new, and the literature on related legal provisions is rare, thus the need to establish a reader's guide to the existing regulatory framework.