Modern economic and legal instruments for preventing and minimalizing environmental damage

Abstract

The recognition of the legal doctrine for public-legal nature of environmental harm and environmental legal liability will facilitate solving the problems of the development of the institute of environmental harm in Russia. Conditions such as a development of legal mechanisms for the prevention and minimization of environmental risks that correspond to the best world standards, including the system of risk management of environmental emergencies; an environmental insurance of residual environmental risks (mandatory, voluntary, comprehensive) and other financial guarantees; public-private partnerships (concessions) and the other favorable investment incentives for implementation of environmental projects will aid in further solving problems. The author substantiates the proposal to allocate a set of environmental safety requirements for normal business activities (in foreign practice – normal routine operation) into separate legal regimes, delimiting these requirements from the rules for extraordinary situations (emergencies), when such requirements are different. It is crucial to define the basic concepts (“emergencies,” “emergency discharges (emissions),” “technological incident”) within Federal laws; and to determine the order of development and approval of normative documents in the field of environmental protection which establish ecological and technical requirements for the normal routine operation and for emergencies as well (if such requirements vary). These requirements should be developed in accordance with the best foreign practices, particularly in accordance with the latest Seveso III Directive, along with the participation of business to which the relevant requirements will apply. In developed countries, due to the specifics of environmental harm, liability insurance for causing such harm is separated from other types of liability insurance for property damage. This phenomenon is analyzed in the article as a manifestation of tendency to enshrine the public-legal aspects of environmental harm, the separation of the latter from the property damage compensated in the framework of the classical tort. The development of environmental insurance in our country is constrained by a number of factors. The author substantiates the recommendations for their consideration and overriding, starting with the development of the Concept of environmental insurance as a comprehensive institution.

Keywords:

environmental harm, environmental insurance, environmental emergency risk management, environmental safety, public-private partnership