One of the fundamental challenges currently facing the EU is that of reconciling its economic and environmental policies. Nevertheless, the role of environmental protection in EU competition law and policy has often been overlooked. Recent years have witnessed a shift in environmental regulation from reliance on command and control to an increased use of market-based environmental policy instruments such as environmental taxes, green subsidies, emissions trading and the encouragement of voluntary corporate green initiatives. By bringing the market into environmental policy, such instruments raise a host of issues that competition law must address. This interdisciplinary treatment of the interaction between these key EU policy areas challenges the view that EU competition policy is a special case, insulated from environmental concerns by the overriding efficiency imperative, and puts forward practical proposals for achieving genuine integration.

One of the fundamental challenges currently facing the EU is that of reconciling its economic and environmental policies. Nevertheless, the role of environmental protection in EU competition law and policy has often been overlooked. Recent years have witnessed a shift in environmental regulation from reliance on command and control to an increased use of market-based environmental policy instruments such as environmental taxes, green subsidies, emissions trading and the encouragement of voluntary corporate green initiatives. By bringing the market into environmental policy, such instruments raise a host of issues that competition law must address. This interdisciplinary treatment of the interaction between these key EU policy areas challenges the view that EU competition policy is a special case, insulated from environmental concerns by the overriding efficiency imperative, and puts forward practical proposals for achieving genuine integration.

The relationship between environmentally sustainable development and company and business law has emerged in recent years as a matter of major concern for many scholars, policy-makers, businesses and nongovernmental organisations. This book offers a conceptual analysis of the principles of sustainable development and environmental integration in the EU legal system. It particularly focuses on Article 11 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which states that EU activities must integrate environmental protection requirements and emphasise the promotion of sustainable development. The book gives an overview of the role played by the environmental integration principle in EU law, both at the level of European legislation and at the level of Member State practice. Contributors to the volume identify and analyse the main legal issues related to the importance of Article 11 TFEU in various policy areas of EU law affecting European businesses, such as company law, insurance and state aid. In drawing together these strands the book sets out the requirements of environmental integration and examines its impact on the regulation of business in the EU. The book will be of great use and interest to students and researchers of business law, environment law, and EU law.

Climate change is the crisis of the current time affecting every country on every continent. A lot of efforts have been initiated at a regional and global level to fight this challenge.The topic of sustainability is high on the agenda of many competition regulators around the globe. Sustainability discussions in the context of competition law have not attracted much attention until recently, most importantly in light of the European Green Deal. Since the European Green Deal, the European Commission has also instigated debates on greening competition law and policy, namely, 'how competition policy can support the EU's focus on sustainability and progression towards climate neutrality by 2050.' As a result of this, the 'interplay between competition law and sustainability' has become one of the most debated topics in the EU.

Focusing on competition, State aid, and free movement law, this book develops a conceptual framework for understanding the integration of environmental concerns in those legal domains and compares the different legal tests that have emerged for delimiting and weighing environmental considerations against other public goals.

Article 6 of the EC Treaty requires an integration of environmental protection requirements into the European Community's policies. As a result environmental concerns must also be integrated into Community competition law and policy. Taking Article 6 EC as a starting point, this book begins with the construction of a model of integration. This model requires that environmental concerns are awarded a role that will ultimately result in the internalisation of environmental concerns and therefore lead to a mutually reinforcing relation between competition and environmental protection. After an examination of Articles 81, 82, 86 and 87 of the EC Treaty, the useful effect doctrine (Article 10 in connection with 81 EC) and the Merger Regulation as well as the application of these competition rules in cases that involve environmental protection concerns, some conclusions are drawn with regard to the integration of environmental protection requirements and EC competition law. These conclusions are followed by a comparative legal research in which their validity is tested. On the basis of these findings it is concluded that the model of integration is being applied in parts of EC competition law. In those areas, competition policy towards environmental restrictions of competition actually increases the chances of a competition for the environment coming about. This, it is submitted, is an important step in the direction of achieving sustainable development. About the author: Hans Vedder (1974) graduated from the University of Groningen in 1997. From 1998 to 2001 he worked as a researcher at the Centre for Environmental Law of the University of Amsterdam. Since 2001 he is lecturer in European law at the University of Groningen. He has published several articles and chapters in books on various aspects of competition and environmental law.

Explores labour, environmental, and animal welfare standards for the sale of goods produced abroad from an EU law perspective.