The Routledge Handbook of Private Law and Sustainability reflects on how the law can help tackle the current environmental challenges and make our societies more resilient to future crises.

Sustainability has been high on the political agenda since the approval of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 and the EU Green Deal in 2019. The Green Agenda aims at making Europe the first climate‑neutral continent by 2050, but humanity persists in an ecological overshoot that puts at risk the survival of species, including that of our own. Drawing together a selection of leading thinkers in the field, this Handbook provides a curated overview of the most recent and relevant discussions for private lawyers related to environmental and sustainability concerns. The authors delve into case study examples from 20 countries in Europe and beyond and discuss a wide range of issues, including new property law and consumer law paradigms, the use of legal tech for promoting sustainable property management, strategies for fighting planned obsolescence, eco‑design, the servitisation economy, advances on corporate climate litigation and mandated green private sludges. Overall, the volume is designed to empower new generations of legal scholars to take an active role in the transition to a more sustainable future. It will also assist policymakers in producing better policy, through pinpointing the main legal issues that need to be addressed and offering a comparative overview of legal solutions and best practices.

Divided into six key parts and overseen by a team of internationally recognised expert editors, this Handbook will be an essential resource for students, scholars, private lawyers and policymakers who wish to have a comprehensive, fundamental overview of how environmental sustainability concerns reflect on private law.

Marta Santos Silva is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Research Center for Justice and Governance at the University of Minho, and an Affiliated Researcher at the Maastricht European Private Law Institute and the Centre for European Law and Politics at the University of Bremen. Prior to her current role, she worked at Maastricht University and as an affiliated senior researcher at KU Leuven researching at the intersection between private law and sustainability studies. She gained experience working in Brussels for a consultancy working with the European institutions. She was appointed a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on Liability and New Technologies (Product Liability Formation) and is an elected European Law Institute Council member.

Andrea Nicolussi is a Full Professor of Civil Law at the Law Faculty of the Catholic University of Milan, where he teaches comparative private law and family law. His published works focus on unjustified enrichment, contract law and tort law, as well as biolaw and family law. He has taken part in international collaborations such as the Study Group on a European Civil Code and the Eusoco project and was a member of the National Bioethics Committee.

Christiane Wendehorst is a Professor of Law at the University of Vienna. She is a member of the Academia Europaea, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the International Academy of Comparative Law, the American Law Institute and numerous international research groups and advisory bodies. Before going to Vienna, she held full professorships in Germany and served as the Managing Director of the Sino‑German Institute for Legal Studies. Professor Wendehorst was the President of the ELI, was one of its Founding Members and is today the ELI’s Scientific Director.

Pablo Salvador Coderch studied law and economics at the University of Barcelona. He is a Cofounder of and Emeritus Professor at the Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona. Since 1995, he is of counsel at Cuatrecasas Abogados. He is a member of the ALI, the ELI and the International Academy of Comparative Law and founder of InDret. He writes and teaches civil law, civil constitutional law, legislative drafting and comparative law of torts and contracts.

Marc Clément is, since September 2018, the presiding judge at the Administrative Tribunal of Lyon (France). In addition, he is, since 2014, a member of the French Environmental Authority. He has experience working as a lawyer at the DG Environment of the European Commission and as a legal adviser of the European Environment Agency. He published in 2010 the book "Environment European Law" and contributed extensively to books in the field of environmental law.

Fryderyk Zoll is a doctor honoris causa by the West‑Ukrainian National University in Ternopil, Professor at the Chair of Civil Law at Jagiellonian University in Kraków and the European Legal Studies Institute, University of Osnabrück. He is the leading researcher of numerous Polish, German and EU grants, a member of numerous academic associations and a vice‑chairperson of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy (KOD) regional board in Lesser Poland. He is a former member of the European Law Institute’s Executive Committee, the Common Frame of Reference and the Committee of the Acquis Group drafting teams, as well as the Codification Commission at the Polish Ministry of Justice. He has authored more than 200 scientific publications in European private law, ecologisation of private law, consumer law, comparative law, legal education and judicial independence.