We can say without much hesitation that it is becoming more and more difficult to be optimistic about the future of our planet.

Citizens are angry. Some have taken it to the European Court of Human Rights, others to museums, where they protest and show their dissatisfaction and despair.

And they have good reasons to worry: 

  • we recently followed a lukewarm COP27 that has brought inequality to the center stage
  • a football world cup in Qatar shown as the symbol of the anti-ecological way of life,
  • a summer of forest fires and draught;
  • a winter under the strains of an ongoing war and the energy crisis it has provoked

Making sense of environmental and ecological justice, and the role of the law and of citizen participation in it is not easy.  

Environmental justice & citizen participation: let’s make sense of it!

Maria Lee, professor of law at University College London and co-director of the UCL Centre for Law and the Environment and Chiara Armeni, professor of Environmental Law and member of the Centre for European Law at the ULB, help us understand what’s at stake when it comes to decision-making in this area. 

Inequality rhymes with injustice and understanding how it plays out when it comes to dealing with climate change is key to ensure citizens remain engaged in the fight for the preservation of our planet. 

Is the European Union doing enough to ensure citizens participation is guaranteed? Is the road to a just transition evenly paved or is inequality still a challenge in this field?

Let’s find out! 

Making sense of EU: The IEE podcast

The Institute’s podcast Making sense of EU is an opportunity to bridge the gap between IEE-ULB students, researchers, and academics form inside the IEE and the ULB communities and from our partner universities, while promoting a deeper understanding of key issues in EU affairs from a scientific perspective.

“Making sense of EU” has been conceived firstly for students and academics as the main audience and aims to also reach IEE partners (academic and non-academic), alumni, EU affairs specialists in the European institutions as well as public affairs specialists.

The first season of “Making sense of EU” was launched in September, 2022 and has been focusing on the IEE’s Jean Monnet Center of Excellence EUqualis, devoted the important topic Inequality and the EU and it is cofunded by the Erasmus + programme of the European Union (101047382 —EUqualis — ERASMUS-JMO-2021-HEI-TCH-RSCH).