The book examines the integration of environmental protection requirements into EU external relations focusing on unilateral, bilateral and inter-regional instruments, which have been less explored than the multilateral dimension of EU environmental policy. The book also explores for the first time the complex interplay and mutual influences between EU environmental integration initiatives and environmental multilateralism. On the one hand it identifies the legal and other instruments used by the EU to support the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements in third countries (particularly developing ones). On the other hand, it singles out the legal and other tools employed by the EU as a means to build partnerships with third countries in order to influence ongoing multilateral negotiations concerning the environment and sustainable development, or to contribute to the development of new international environmental norms in the absence of such multilateral negotiations. Ultimately, the book traces the significant evolution of the various tools deployed by the EU to integrate environmental concerns in its external relations, with a view to identifying emerging challenges and future directions.

The growing awareness of an impending environmental crisis coupled with a series of national and regional environmental disasters led, in the 1960s and 1970s, to the birth of the global environmental movement and the widespread recognition of the need to protect the environment for both current and future generations. Against this backdrop the concept of 'environmental rights' surfaced as a means by which claims relating to the environment could be formulated in legal terms and thereby safeguarded. In the decades that followed, this concept has come to encompass many different variations of legal rights, which this book seeks to investigate and assess.

For many observers, the European Union is mired in a deep crisis. Between sluggish growth; political turmoil following a decade of austerity politics; Brexit; and the rise of Asian influence, the EU is seen as a declining power on the world stage. Columbia Law professor Anu Bradford argues the opposite in her important new book The Brussels Effect: the EU remains an influential superpower that shapes the world in its image. By promulgating regulations that shape the international business environment, elevating standards worldwide, and leading to a notable Europeanization of many important aspects of global commerce, the EU has managed to shape policy in areas such as data privacy, consumer health and safety, environmental protection, antitrust, and online hate speech. And in contrast to how superpowers wield their global influence, the Brussels Effect - a phrase first coined by Bradford in 2012- absolves the EU from playing a direct role in imposing standards, as market forces alone are often sufficient as multinational companies voluntarily extend the EU rule to govern their global operations. The Brussels Effect shows how the EU has acquired such power, why multinational companies use EU standards as global standards, and why the EU's role as the world's regulator is likely to outlive its gradual economic decline, extending the EU's influence long into the future.

Written by two internationally respected scholars, this unique primer distills European Union environmental law and policy into a practical guide for a nonlegal audience, as well as for lawyers trained in other jurisdictions. The first part explains the basics of the European legal system, including key actors, types of laws, and regulatory instruments. The second part describes the EU’s overarching legal strategies for environmental management and delves into how the EU addresses the specific environmental issues of pollution, ecosystem management, and climate change. Chapters include summaries of key concepts and discussion questions, as well as informative "spotlights" offering brief overviews of topics. With a highly accessible structure and useful illustrative features, A Guide to EU Environmental Law provides a long-overdue synthetic resource on EU environmental law for students and for anyone working in environmental policy or environmental science.

Today, the European environmental regime seems omnipresent. A rare beetle can stop a building project, the local water authorities have to make sure that the European Eel can reach his home waters after having travelled the Atlantic, European standards for air quality cause trouble for the German diesel-driven car industry, and lighting products are subject to EU energy labelling and eco-design requirements. Implementing laws and sticking to environmental norms and standards has become an integral part of the European integration process. To the EU this is self-evident: We share resources like water, air, natural habitats and the species they support, and we also share environmental standards to protect them. The idea of any such 'shared environment', however, has come a long way and is still being contested. Thinking and writing about the history of protecting the environment requires us to study the long 20th century. In order to understand the peculiar rise of Europe environmental regimes and green values we have to consider the modern concept of Europe as a shared geographical space, linked by habitats, migrating species, rivers, pollutants, climate and risks. Moreover, we have to analyse the 'invention' of conservation as a moral enterprise. That is why environmental history needs a long durée's perspective to understand the evolution of the European Common.

The right to a healthy environment has been the subject of extensive philosophical debates that revolve around the question: Should rights to clean air, water, and soil be entrenched in law? David Boyd answers this by moving beyond theoretical debates to measure the practical effects of enshrining the right in constitutions. His pioneering analysis of 193 constitutions and the laws and court decisions of more than 100 nations in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa reveals a positive correlation between constitutional protection and stronger environmental laws, smaller ecological footprints, superior environmental performance, and improved quality of life.

This book presents an overview of the field of environmental law and policies within the European Union, from theoretical foundations to major issues and applied governance solutions. Drawing on expertise from renowned academics and practitioners from different disciplines, EU Environmental Governance: Current and Future Challenges helps readers to understand the main legal, political and economic issues of environmental protection since the adoption of the Paris Agreement by the European Union in 2015, until the 2020 Brexit, European Green Deal and coronavirus outbreak. The authors examine a broad range of sensitive and topical environmental issues including climate change, air pollution, waste management and circular economy, nuclear waste, biodiversity, agriculture, chemicals, nanotechnology, the environmental impacts of trade and environmental conflicts, presenting both current insights and future challenges. Overall, this volume exposes the reader to a vast array of empirical case studies, which will bolster their training and help tackle the environmental challenges faced by Europe today. This book is a valuable resource for students, researchers and policymakers across a broad range of fields, including environmental law and policies, environmental economics, climate science and environmental sociology.