The climate changes, should EU migration law change as well? : insights from Italy

Abstract

The climate is changing, generating increasingly significant migration flows. Yet the climate change-migration nexus is scarcely reflected in the relevant legislation of the European Union. This article argues that the EU needs to address this nexus coherently for its migration and climate actions to be effective. To this end, three avenues might be feasible: 1) EU institutions could promote an extensive application of existing protection instruments; 2) the European Court of Justice could expansively interpret asylum and migration provisions in light of potential environmental threats to migrants' rights; and 3) within the framework of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, EU institutions could encourage the revision of the Common European Asylum System by making explicit reference to the environmental causes of migration. Although overlooked in the literature so far, Italy has already developed all three of these avenues to foster protection against environmental causes of migration and may provide helpful insights for the supranational level.