Project description
Integrating Degrowth into the law: the case of batteries
Adopting a degrowth economy is essential for restoring Earth as a safe operating space for humanity. Degrowth involves a planned reduction in energy and resource use to align the economy with ecological limits while reducing inequality and enhancing well-being. The ERC-funded DELaw project will work to embed degrowth principles within legal frameworks to drive meaningful societal change. Through interdisciplinary analysis of EU and Member States’ energy laws, the project will focus on energy storage regulations, particularly for batteries. DELaw will develop a new framework for integrating degrowth principles into the law, test it with EU battery regulations and provide recommendations to EU and national lawmakers for degrowth-oriented legal amendments as environmental challenges grow.
Objective
Research shows that six of the nine identified planetary boundaries have already been crossed. For Earth to once again become a safe operating space for humanity, it is urgent to turn to a degrowth economy. Degrowth means a democratically planned reduction of energy and resource use designed to bring the economy back into balance with the living world in a way that reduces inequality and improves human wellbeing. Although the idea of degrowth dates back to the 1970s, its development in scholarly work significantly gained traction during the 2010s, especially insofar as it was embedded in ecological economics discourse. Yet, degrowth as a research topic for legal scholars is barely nascent.
DELaw aims to find ways to integrate the principles of degrowth into the law, in order to reorientate our society at the required scale and pace. To do so, DELaw proposes an ambitious comparative interdisciplinary analysis of EU and Member States’ energy laws, with a focus on the legal regime for energy storage and especially batteries. Indeed, batteries are at the crossroads between two of the most pressing environmental threats. They are needed to allow higher levels of renewable energy sources and fight climate change, but they rely on critical raw materials such as nickel, cobalt or lithium, the mining of which accelerates biodiversity loss and wreaks havoc on local communities.
Through a solid mix of legal methods, DELaw will generate two ground-breaking results for legal research and for society as a whole. Firstly, the team will create a new methodological framework for the inclusion of degrowth principles into the law, tested with the regulation of batteries in the EU but applicable to other legal fields and jurisdictions. Secondly, DELaw will propose a set of recommendations for when lawmakers both at EU and national levels will look at adopting degrowth-focused legal amendments, a moment that draws closer as time passes and the environmental situation worsens.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry alkali metals
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry transition metals
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- social sciences law
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
06071 Badajoz
Spain
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.