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Global environmental regulation of offshore energy production: Searching for legal standards in ocean governance
Author(s) -
Giannopoulos Nikolaos
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
review of european, comparative and international environmental law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 2050-0394
pISSN - 2050-0386
DOI - 10.1111/reel.12296
Subject(s) - united nations convention on the law of the sea , due diligence , soft law , obligation , context (archaeology) , business , international law , environmental law , variety (cybernetics) , corporate governance , law of the sea , normative , political science , law , environmental resource management , law and economics , environmental planning , public international law , environmental science , geography , economics , finance , archaeology , artificial intelligence , computer science
The international environmental regulation of all types of energy generation activities at sea is first and foremost anchored to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). However, both at the global and regional levels, UNCLOS is complemented by an array of evolving environmental agreements. These normative developments can put flesh on the bare bones of the general (due diligence) obligation of States to protect the marine environment with regard to offshore energy activities. Parallel to binding obligations under environmental agreements, there are a variety of non‐binding instruments, which can also play a key role in enriching the content of prevention obligations. Depending on their source, their form and the procedure by which they are adopted, these non‐binding pronouncements may become legally relevant as interpretative guidance or standard of proof that a State has exercised due diligence. In this context, the article posits that synergies among environmental instruments and the interaction of non‐binding instruments with binding rules of international law can fill the current legal gaps and strengthen the international legal standards for the regulation of this environmentally sensitive sector.