Trial lecture - time and place
Nov. 1, 2019 10:15 AM–11:00 AM, Gamle festsal, 1. etg Domus Academica
Adjudication committee
- Professor Christina Voigt, University of Oslo (leader)
- Professor Rosalind Malcolm, University of Surrey (1. opponent)
- Professor Arne Remmen, Aalborg University (2. opponent)
Chair of defence
Head of Department Inger Johanne Sand
Supervisors
- Professor Jukka Mähönen
- senior lecturer Carl Dalhammar
- Professor Endre Stavang
Summary
The concept of ‘Circular Economy’ (CE) has gained a great deal of attention in the last five years and has become the new all-encompassing notion for sustainable public policies. There is to date no commonly agreed definition of the CE, and it is one of the goals of this thesis to propose one. A starting point for characterizing it might be in opposition to the linear ‘take-make-dispose’ economic model that has dominated economic thinking since the Industrial Revolution and whereby the environment is an open space in which humanity can draw resources infinitely and discharge unlimited amount of waste. The CE developed in particular as a way to counter the dramatic environmental consequences of the ensuing ‘throwaway society’ based on the mass production of low quality products for the purpose of rapid consumption and disposal.
The aim of this thesis is to explore the basis for a legal framework for the CE that can guarantee a sustainable future for humanity; one in which products contribute to social and economic prosperity without threatening the nine planetary boundaries that form the safe space in which humanity can prosper.
The thesis is article-based and hence composed of an Extended summary (kappe) and five articles:
On the one hand, the Extended summary is meant to contextualize the topic: how and why did the linear model develop? What are the ecological movement and the proponents of circularity proposing – and how do they differ in their arguments? What are the main features of a legal framework based on an ecological paradigm? What does a shift to ecological law entail for the EU and its product policy?
On the other hand, the purpose of the articles is to examine more specifically how the CE is regulated in the EU and how EU law could and should evolve to promote an ecologically based CE.
The articles discuss:
- the meaning and different use of life-cycle thinking in EU product policy (article 1),
- the strengths and shortcomings of the EU Action Plan for the CE (article 2),
- the different ways of regulating durability and reparability at EU and national level (using examples from France and Norway) (article 3),
- the limitations of EU waste law in preventing environmental damage from products (article 4), and
- the role of the law in changing consumption patterns (article 5).