Benedetta Cotta holds a Ph.D. in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute in Florence (Italy). In her doctoral dissertation she investigated the process of implementation “on the ground” of European environmental directives in Hungary and Poland with a special attention to the mechanisms that influenced a sustainable adaptation to the European environmental legislation.

She worked as a Post Doctoral Research Fellow in the GOVERNECT project at Leuphana University Lüneburg (Germany) from July 2017 until the end of December 2020. The project aimed at gaining a better understanding of the environmental sustainability challenges posed by global flows of commodities, people and money in geographically distant places by advancing research into different public and private governance arrangements in such settings.

She currently works as a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Law, Policy and Development at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa but will join the University of Padova soon. Previously, she worked as a research fellow at the Cà Foscari University of Venice in the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage. Her current research focuses on “sustainable welfare” and the emergence of eco-social policies at European, national and local levels of governance.

She is part of the Research Group on Governance and Sustainability at Leuphana University and continues to actively collaborate with its members.

Publications:

2022

Cotta, B., Coenen, J., Challies, E., Newig, J., Lenschow, A., & Schilling-Vacaflor, A. (2022 – in press). Environmental governance in globally telecoupled systems: Mapping the terrain towards an integrated research agenda. Earth System Governance, 13, 100142 [Free Open Access Content].

2021

Schilling-Vacaflor, A., Lenschow, A., Challies, E., Cotta, B., & Newig, J. (2021). Contextualizing certification and auditing: Soy certification and access of local communities to land and water in Brazil. World Development, 140, 105281.

2020

Cotta, B. (2020) What goes around, comes around? Access and allocation problems in Global North-South waste trade. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 20(2), 255–269 [free open access content].

Cotta, B. & Memoli, V. (2020). Do environmental preferences in wealthy nations persist in times of crisis? The European environmental attitudes (2008-2017). Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, 50(1), 1-16.

Newig, J., Challies, E., Cotta, B., Lenschow, A., & Schilling-Vacaflor, A. (2020). Governing global telecoupling toward environmental sustainability. Ecology and Society, 25(4), 19 [Free Open Access Content].

Rimmert, M., Baudoin, L., Cotta, B., Kochskämper, E., & Newig, J. (2020). Participation in River Basin Planning Under the Water Framework Directive – Has it Benefitted Good Water Status? Water Alternatives, 13(3), 484-512 [free open access content].

2019

Newig, J., Lenschow, A., Challies, E., Cotta, B., & Schilling-Vacaflor, A. (2019). What is governance in global telecoupling? Ecology and Society, 24(3), 26 [Free Open Access Content].

2018

Cotta, B. (2018) Wasted money, wasted time? Analysing the sustainability of EU assistance in Hungary and Poland in the waste management sector. emecon Employment and economy in Central and Eastern Europe, 7(1), 1-18.

2016

Ceccobelli, D., & Cotta, B. (2016). Leaders’ ‘green’ posts. The environmental issues shared by politicians on Facebook. European Policy Analysis, 2(2), 68-93.

Cotta, B. (2016). Communities in Transition: Protected Nature and Local People in Eastern and Central Europe. Europe-Asia Studies, 68(2), 351-352.

2015

Cotta, B. (2015). Wasted compliance strategies? The policy-making styles of Hungary and Poland in the implementation of European environmental directives. LPF Working Papers Series, 3, 1-44.

2010

Cotta, B. (2010). La questione dei rifiuti in Europa ed in Italia: un’analisi della direttiva RAEE. Cittalia Fondazione ANCI Ricerche, p. 1-33.