Climate Change
William Wilson
GLOBAL TRENDS IN CLIMATE LITIGATION 2025 ...

On 26 June 2025 as part of London Climate Action Week https://www.londonclimateactionweek.org I attended the launch of the 7th edition of this hugely important and influential report and resource at the LSE Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/ .

GLOBAL TRENDS IN CLIMATE LITIGATION 2025 SNAPSHOT REPORT LAUNCH
environment, International
William Wilson
NUCLEAR LIABILITY WORKSHOP IN ACCRA, GHANA

It was great to make a first visit to Accra and Ghana in mid April 2025 to contribute to a workshop on nuclear liability as part of the European Commission programme in support of Ghana’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority, led by friends and colleagues from  Vienna.  I did sessions on nuclear liability, and on nuclear transport.

NUCLEAR LIABILITY WORKSHOP IN ACCRA, GHANA
environment, International
William Wilson
UK-EU SANDEEL DISPUTE ARBITRATION

From 28 to 30 January 2025 the UK and the EU were in an arbitration hearing in the Hague. The hearing concerned the UK and Scottish governments’ decision to ban sandeel fishing in certain areas of the Dogger Bank

UK-EU SANDEEL DISPUTE ARBITRATION
International, environment
William Wilson
ITALIAN STATE’S INACTION ON ILLEGAL WASTE ...

On 30 January 2025 the Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights handed down a judgement in the case of Cannavacciuolo and Others v Italy.

ITALIAN STATE’S INACTION ON ILLEGAL WASTE DUMPING AND BURNING HELD TO BREACH RIGHT TO LIFE
environment
William Wilson
PLANNING IN SILICON VALLEY

In the late 1990s, while undertaking a Harkness Fellowship in the USA and working on a book on ‘Making Environmental Laws Work’, I visited Silicon Valley to talk to some of the company managers there about environmental regulation and the US computer industry.

PLANNING IN SILICON VALLEY
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WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE CHEMICAL STANDARDS AT RISK FROM ENVIRONMENT BILL

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The CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, Dr Richard Benwell (until recently Special Adviser to Defra Secretary of State Michael Gove, and currently Liberal Democrat candidate for Wantage), has warned that the Environment Bill contains discretionary powers for the Secretary of State to vary, water down or even remove long established chemical standards for controlled waters set by the Water Framework Directive.

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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WALES COMMITTEE REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE POST BREXIT

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On 2 October 2019, the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee of the National Assembly for Wales published a report on ‘Environmental principles and governance post-Brexit’, containing very important recommendations to the Welsh Government for the way in which environmental laws and principles should be enacted, applied and enforced in Wales post Brexit.

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SUPREME COURT RULES PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT UNLAWFUL, NULL AND VOID

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In a historic judgment on combined appeals from England and Scotland on 24 September 2019, all 11 Justices of the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Prime Minister Johnson’s advice to the Queen to prorogue Parliament for five weeks from mid September to 14 October 2019 prevented Parliament from carrying out its constitutional role.

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AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES BILLS FALL WITH THE PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT: ENVIRONMENT BILL NOT YET INTRODUCED

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With the (somewhat controversial) prorogation of Parliament from 9 September to 14 October 2019, it would appear that the Agriculture Bill, the Fisheries Bill and other key legislation including the Trade Bill, which were going through Parliament on 9 September will now technically ‘fall’.