Camilla Adelle and Andy Jordan from the University of East Anglia, reflect on 40 years of environment policy in the EU and the challenges ahead
On 21 October, EU environment policy officially turns 40. Since the EU first endorsed its role in this area at the 1972 Paris Summit, environmental policy has become one of its top objectives. Not only is it now enshrined in the founding treaties, but it is also supported by a powerful network of environmental committees, ministries and agencies, as well as pressure groups and political parties.
Given the unfavourable starting conditions in 1972, this is no mean achievement. In many areas, the question is no longer whether the EU should act, but how it should act. To get to this point, EU environment policy has had to address many significant challenges, but what challenges will dominate in the future?
First, the EU’s choice of implementing instruments is still restricted. Despite much talk about the merits of new instruments, such as eco-taxes or emissions trading, European policy is still mainly pursued via regulatory means. The challenge is finding a better mix among a wider range of instruments.
Second, creating environment policy is one thing, but implementation and evaluation is also important. More accurate information is needed to determine when and why policies work or not. At the same time, the EU needs to redouble its efforts to ensure ambitious policies are fully implemented.
The third, and most immediate challenge, is to secure these additional efforts in an era of acute economic austerity. Austerity will, however, also generate opportunities for those willing and able to show their activities have an economic value. Pro-environment businesses and policymakers are learning a new language to seize these opportunities.
At 40, it seems as though EU environment policy has reached a more mature form. Environment protection will always remain a live political issue, not least because of the long-standing tensions between limiting environmental damage and the pursuit of economic growth. There is an equilibrium, but of a dynamic kind.
One thing is clear: what emerges in the future will have wide-ranging and long-lasting impacts on those who live in, and well outside, the UK.
Camilla Adelle is a senior research associate and Andy Jordan is a professor of environmental politics at the University of East Anglia and are the authors of Environmental policy in the EU, now in its third edition
