Strengthening EU Environmental Law:
Legal Perspectives on Greening Europe

Greening EU Environmental Law: What about the European Climate Law?

In recent years, “greening” has become a political buzzword. The publication on 11 December 2019 of the Communication on the European Green Deal has undoubtedly contributed to this new centrality of the term. However, like any political slogan, greening gives little or no indication of what the state of the law is in this area. It’s important to analyse if, in EU law, “greening” is merely a reformulation of a set of already well-established principles and rules, or if it’s a new term that reveals blind spots in EU law and policy and thus necessary developments. 

This lecture will try to answer this question and will explain what "greening" means in EU law, including the integration principle, the objective of a high level of environmental protection, and the European Climate Law. To implement the European Green Deal, the Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 2021 establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality (‘European Climate Law’) was adopted. It makes the EU’s climate neutrality target by 2050 at the latest legally binding and sets the 2030 ambition which shall be a domestic reduction of net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% (compared to 1990 levels). It also lays the foundations for efforts to adapt to climate change and sets out important milestones in terms of monitoring procedures. 

An analysis of the role of the European Climate Law within the existing EU regulatory regime related to climate change is a good way to explore “greening” in EU Law. We will study if it is merely a symbolic law that enshrines the EU’s climate objectives in law or if the new governance framework will change the way decisions are taken on EU and Member State level.

Speaker

Prof. Estelle Brosset

Estelle Brosset is Law Professor at Aix Marseille University (France). She is specialized in European Environmental Law and European Health Law. She is Deputy Director of Research Center in International & EU Law and Senior Member of ”Institut Universitaire de France”.

Environmental Law Lecture Series

This lecture is part of the Environmental Law Lecture Series: Strengthening EU Environmental Law, Legal Perspectives on Greening Europe series. This series provides a set of important insights from environmental law scholars on how EU environmental law helps to achieve the aim of a high level of environmental protection in the European Union and across the world.

With the European Green Deal from 11 December 2019 the European Commission tabled an ambitious legislative program, based on fundamental aims such as zero pollution, do no harm, and climate neutrality. Many legal developments took place and are still on-going, both at the European and national regulatory levels as in the courtroom, including the national courts. While efforts to protect the environment are direly needed, including effective implementation and enforcement, the regulatory acquis, and the flow of case law, has become utterly complex which poses challenges for acquiring a good understanding and application.

This freely accessible online (and hybrid) lecture series provides students and scholars with core insights in the state of affairs and further improvement of EU environmental law. The lecture series will run in 2023 and 2024. All lectures will be recorded and will be made accessible through our YouTube channel.

This GreenDeal-Net lecture series is hosted by MCEL, METRO and organised in cooperation with GLaw-Net and GreenDeal-NET. Maastricht University students will be eligible for certificates of attendance (see more information under the registration link).