When Regulators Mean Business: Regulation in the Shadow of Environmental Armageddon

Abstract

In this article, I argue that impending ecological catastrophe invites regulators a) to focus on regulatory effectiveness, and b) to afford little significance to the legitimacy of regulatory action designed to avert such a catastrophe. This implies that regulators will resort to 'techno-regulation' or 'code,' leaving regulatees no option but to comply with the rules. In addition, regulators must adopt a much more sympathetic attitude towards new 'high risk technologies.' In effect, against the background of impending catastrophe, the precautionary principle will instruct that scientific uncertainty about the risks of new technologies, such as geoengineering or synthetic biology, is no reason not to give those technologies the green light.

Keywords: Regulation, geoengineering, code, environmental law, new technologies, catastrophe