Alessandra Arcuri

Alessandra Arcuri is Full Professor of International Economic Law at the Department of Law and Markets, Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and a member of the Erasmus Initiative on Inclusive Prosperity. Her academic leadership spans critical intersections of law, sustainability, and democratic governance within global economic frameworks.

Her research interrogates the tensions between international economic law and planetary boundaries, focusing on how investment treaties constrain climate action through cases like Rockhopper v. Italy. She exposes how fossil fuel interests exploit legal mechanisms like the Energy Charter Treaty while analyzing glyphosate regulation failures and corporate influence on EU Green Deal implementation. Her work consistently challenges technocratic governance models that marginalize democratic participation in environmental decision-making.

Recent scholarship reveals an intensified focus on supply-side climate policies, where investment law clashes with state efforts to phase out fossil fuels. She documents how tribunals prioritize investor protections over ecological imperatives, using Dutch river pollution cases to demonstrate states' international obligations to prevent toxic emissions. Her analysis of boundary-work in investment law reveals systemic exclusions of public interest perspectives.

Scientific Awards:

• Jean Monnet Fellow (2011-12)
• Fernand Braudel Fellow (2021-22)
• Hauser Global Research Fellow (2003-04)
• Marie Curie Fellow (2001)

Professor Arcuri supervises PhD candidates including Abdurrahman Erol, with whom she co-authored pivotal research on Dutch river degassing that directly influenced national policy banning toxic emissions from inland vessels. Her policy impact extends through commissioned reports for the Dutch Parliament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Commission, and NGOs, translating academic rigor into tangible regulatory change. She actively bridges scholarly critique with public advocacy, as seen in open letters correcting ministerial misinterpretations of environmental law.

As a core contributor to the Erasmus Initiative on Inclusive Prosperity, she collaborates across disciplines to reconfigure economic governance toward ecological sustainability and democratic accountability, challenging the fossil fuel economy through legal innovation and grassroots empowerment.