Bulletin n. 2-3/2012
October 2012-February 2013
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Kirsten Mikadze
    Public Participation in Global Environmental Governance and the Equator Principles: Potential and Pitfalls
    in German Law Journal , vol. 13, issue 12 ,  2012 ,  1386-1411
    Traditional multilateral state-led efforts to provide regulatory protection for the global environment are proving increasingly ineffective. This performance is contrasted, accompanied—and perhaps reinforced—by a simultaneous experimentation with different forms of “soft” regulation that are authored, more and more, by non-state actors. The result is an evolving regulatory landscape in which environmental norms are in flux and real-life implications are uncertain. The Equator Principles (EPs), a voluntary code designed by global banks as a means of regulating their project finance activities, provide an interesting lens through which to view some of the ramifications of this evolution. When the EPs were introduced in 2003, it was hoped that they would offer, among other benefits, greater capacity for public participation in projects where adverse environmental impacts were anticipated. After several years of experience “under Equator,” however, this enthusiasm has waned. In this paper, with a view to illuminating the broader regulatory and normative significance, I seek to examine more closely the impacts that the EPs have had on public participation in environmental governance. Focusing on disclosure requirements, I argue that the EPs have the potential to facilitate broader public participation in environmental governance. I demonstrate, however, that this potential is vitiated by the EPs’ failure to meaningfully operationalize the institutions required to make this happen.
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