Advances in Environmental Regulation Indicators for Environmental Protection
Coordinator of the consortium: Thais Nunez Rocha, Orléans Economics Laboratory (LEO), CNRS / University of Orléans - FR
Summary
This project addresses global environmental challenges by developing innovative legal indicators for environmental regulation. Integrating insights from economics, law, computer science, and political science, it overcomes limitations in current measures, like subjectivity and limited scope, using advanced tools like Natural Legal Language Processing (NLLP) and Large Language Models (LLMs). These methods efficiently analyze legal texts, enabling assessments of environmental laws, trade, and international agreements.
The project aims to create a global dataset capturing the multidimensional nature of environmental laws, analyze national and international frameworks to address issues like pollution displacement (e.g., Pollution Haven Hypothesis), and ensure indicators are robust and policy-relevant.
Research unfolds in four phases. Study Legal Characteristics: Identify features of binding laws for indicator development. Legal Text Extraction: Use NLP to extract and classify key features. Empirical Applications: Validate indicators in trade and environmental outcome research. Cross-Disciplinary Review: Synthesize findings, refine methods, and plan future research.
The project will develop precise, scalable indicators for global application, inform policies with actionable insights into regulatory effectiveness, and foster interdisciplinary collaboration. Expected outcomes include enhanced datasets, improved methodologies, and tools to advance environmental protection and sustainable development worldwide.
Our findings will inform national and international environmental policy by identifying effective practices for tackling environmental challenges, including pollution and pollution haven risks. The Centre-Val de Loire region will gain a pioneering research methodology that blends data science with legal analysis, positioning it as a leader in this multidisciplinary field.
