"Man, however much he likes to pretend the contrary, is part of nature" ( RACHEL CARSON, Silent Spring )

 

The Center for Euro-Latinamerican legal studiEs on SusTainable consumption and grEen transition (CELESTE) is a Jean Monnet Center of Excellence financed by the European Commission at the University of Milan ‘La Statale’.

CELESTE aims to examine the current environmental challenges facing both the European Union and Latin America, to develop an intensive dialogue on the state of play, and to find common solutions for sustainable consumption and the green transition towards climate neutrality in consumption patterns, as well as to raise awareness among so-called 'climatarian consumers' and the wider public through a transatlantic dialogue.

The Jean Monnet Center of Excellence CELESTE (2025–2028) follows the Jean Monnet Chair ENFASIS (2020–2023) and the Jean Monnet Module HELACOL (2016–2019), consolidating a long-standing commitment to cooperation between the European Union and Latin America in the areas of research, education, and public engagement.

CELESTE is located at the Department of International, Legal, Historical and Political Studies of Milan University. Its academic staff includes fifteen highly specialized Italian and foreign scholars, as well as multiple contacts from European and Latin American countries.

There is an Executive Board composed of Sabrina Lanni (Milan University), Giovanni Cavaggion (Milan University), David Fabio Esborraz (National Research Council of Italy) and a young researcher (under appointment).

The Jean Monnet Center of Excellence CELESTE is directed by Sabrina Lanni, Full professor of Comparative Private Law.  Torna al Menu Principale

Background

The idea for the CELESTE Project arises from reflections on the legal, economic, and ecological implications of out-of-season food production, such as winter strawberries; the environmental footprint of large-scale meat and food consumption; the impact of inexpensive clothing promoted by fast fashion on the environment; the legal and ethical responsibilities associated with marketing technological products designed for planned obsolescence; the potential to mitigate the environmental impact of disposing of internationally traded goods by drawing on the legislative experience of countries less avant-garde than those in Europe; the responses offered by European law concerning environmental rights and the ecological awareness of climatarian consumers; the core principles for healthy environmental protection in Latin America; and the evolving dialogue on these themes between Europe and Latin American countries.

The climate neutrality objective for 2050 requires a synergy of efforts among various parties. As part of a collective response to Europe’s deteriorating natural environment, many contributions are channelled from the European Union to its Member States. One of the most recent pieces of legislation in this area is Regulation (EU) 2024/1991 on nature restoration, which requires EU Member States to develop their national restoration plans by 2026.

Furthermore, the European legislator has extended its intervention to areas concerning the organisation and functioning of companies, potentially involving considerations of corporate structure and financing. This includes the allocation of resources in strategic fields such as food, fashion, pharmaceuticals, and high technology. At the same time, a common vision is needed for the environment as a common good and for the sustainability of international trade to limit, for example, global deforestation and long-term degradation (see Regulation (EU) 2023/1115).

Environmental sustainability is the core issue for CELESTE.

By integrating ecological limits into regulatory and market frameworks, sustainable governance architectures foster conditions in which biodiversity conservation, animal welfare, and environmental stewardship are mutually reinforcing objectives. For this reason, we have adopted the Blue-footed Booby as our mascot: its blue legs and its vulnerability due to anthropogenic causes make it a metaphor for sustainability. This animal acts as a bioindicator species: if the ecosystem is unbalanced, their numbers decline, so safeguarding this species therefore transcends a mere zoological concern and becomes a proxy for protecting the integrity of entire ecological networks.

The Blue-footed Booby is a fitting symbol for the aims of CELESTE: the construction of legal-economic paradigms capable of internalising environmental externalities, promoting interspecies justice, and ensuring the long-term viability of natural systems.

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General Objectives

CELESTE fosters interdisciplinary collaboration on governance, trust, and sustainable development by connecting the teaching, research, and outreach activities of the University of Milan ‘La Statale’ with those of other Italian and Latin American universities. The significance of the Jean Monnet Center of Excellence - CELESTE is twofold. 

Firstly, as regards the methodological framework, CELESTE adopts and actively promotes an interdisciplinary approach aimed at fostering structured dialogue among diverse fields of knowledge, all converging on the analysis of the interactions between environmental law and consumer law.

These constitute two pivotal domains of European law that must reassess and strengthen their mutual synergies in order to foster the development, circulation, and consumption of goods and services —such as those in agriculture, food, fashion, technology, pharmaceuticals, and finance— that are increasingly oriented toward sustainability and environmental responsibility. From this standpoint, it is imperative to transcend the traditional dichotomy between public and private interests in law by reinvigorating the notion of the commons, understood in light of its shared intellectual and normative foundations within the European Union and Latin American legal traditions.

Secondly, CELESTE aims to promote comparative dialogue between Europe and Latin America: the two most significant regions characterised by civil law traditions, historically connected through a long-standing legal heritage and still deeply engaged today in social, economic, and political exchange. The reforms currently underway in the new civil codes and constitutions of Latin American states are increasingly shaped by developments in European law.

Whereas in the past legal harmonisation was mediated primarily through the codes, constitutions, and statutes of individual European jurisdictions, contemporary reforms in Latin America are also directly influenced by European directives and regulations. This influence is particularly evident in the supranational legal harmonisation initiatives proposed within MERCOSUR, and it is now clear that dialogue between the EU and MERCOSUR can not only strengthen a substantial segment of the regional market but also serve as a model for replicating sustainable governance in other Latin American countries. In this sense, CELESTE contributes to a broader transcontinental framework for coordinated legal development.  Torna al Menu Principale

Crucial Issues

The Jean Monnet Center of Excellence - CELESTE gives particular attention to environmental issues that affect consumers’ choices, especially through labelling, to enable a more careful evaluation of their consumption choices in favour of an increasingly green Europe and Latin America. The various competences of the CELESTE team will focus on some crucial issues, including:

The reduction of energy consumption and waste
The adoption of more sustainable food choices
The increase in eco-friendly fashion
The resilience of agricultural systems
The spreading of a production and consumption model based on the circular economy
The disposal of environmentally harmful medicinal products

Against this background, CELESTE focuses on how the EU works to ensure sustainable consumption for all, both internally among its member states and externally through international cooperation and the provision of common policy frameworks to support the most vulnerable populations.

CELESTE aims to conduct a critical analysis of the current state of EU practices, policies, and regulatory framework related to sustainable consumption and green transition. In addition, the Center of Excellence aims to evaluate the overall impact of EU international cooperation and development policies in the mentioned fields, identifying strengths and areas for improvement, especially regarding European Union and Latin America links and, last but not least, the recent innovative partnership agreement of 6 December 2024 signed between EU and four MERCOSUR Countries.

CELESTES assesses, in collaboration with institutional partners in the EU and Latin America, the applicability of European best practices and social innovations to intervention policies in the most vulnerable social and/or environmental contexts, with a view to their possible reformulation according to the green transition objectives, if necessary.

CELESTE promotes greater knowledge and awareness of EU sustainable consumption policies. The target audience is broad, including Academia as well as high school and university students, policymakers, and a broad spectrum of civil society.

CELESTE engages various stakeholders, including private operators in food, fashion, pharmaceuticals, and electronics, University faculties outside traditional EU studies, and the wider public. It networks with other EU higher education institutions (e.g., Inter-University Centre for Studies on Agricultural, Food and Environmental Law Sciences – CEDISA; The Institute for Advanced Studies of Litoral – IAS Litoral; Center for Sustainable Fashion at the University –Insubria University) specializing in consumer law and environmental sustainability and involves Latin American partners to strengthening a common collaboration on sustainable consumption, ecological values, and green transition.