Civil liability and environmental sustainability in smart infrastructures: A critical synthesis from a systematic review
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Abstract
Smart energy technologies have expanded rapidly, generating new technical, legal, and environmental dynamics whose complexity surpasses current regulatory capacities, making their analysis an urgent requirement to ensure a safe and sustainable energy transition. This study aimed to evaluate the legal and environmental repercussions arising from the absence of a specific civil liability framework in the implementation of these technologies, examining how this regulatory void influences operational risks, data protection, and associated ecological impacts. A systematic review article was conducted based on the identification, selection, and comparative analysis of recent scientific literature, allowing for the integration of technical, legal, and environmental evidence from multiple disciplinary perspectives. The results indicate that the lack of regulation generates uncertainty in the attribution of damages, increases technological vulnerabilities, exposes users to risks derived from data management, and contributes to environmental harm associated with unsupervised failures. The most significant conclusion emphasizes that the development of specialized regulatory frameworks is essential for mitigating emerging risks and ensuring that the adoption of smart energy technologies proceeds under principles of legal security, environmental protection, and social responsibility
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