On 8 December 2025 (09:00 – 13:00 CET), the European University Institute (EUI) International Law Working Group, the Environmental Law and Governance Working Group, the Cultural Heritage Working Group, and the Working Group on Palestine hosted the hybrid event: 🌳 “From Permit to Potential: Law and the Environmental Harm caused by the Military Pre-, Post- and During Conflict”.

The discussion brought together Lennard de Klerk (Initiative on GHG Accounting of War), Dr. Kerrin Langer (TU Dortmund University), Kate Mackintosh (UCLA Law’s The Promise Institute for Human Rights – Europe), Benjamin Neimark (QMUL), Stavros-Evdokimos Pantazopoulos (National & Kapodistrian University of Athens), and Judith van Veldhuizen (EUI), skilfully moderated by Madara Meļņika.

The panel examined “military metabolism” as a societal phenomenon and explored how law may enable or fail to prevent environmental harm linked to militarisation, before, during, and after conflict. Speakers also discussed current political and legal developments, as well as pathways to strengthen responsibility (including state and private accountability) in relation to military emissions and environmental impacts, aligning closely with themes explored in SustaINLaw.

The event was kindly supported by the EUI Law Department.