2nd Edition

EU Environmental Governance Current and Future Challenges

Edited By Amandine Orsini, Eleni Kavvatha Copyright 2026
322 Pages 14 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

322 Pages 14 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

322 Pages 14 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book presents an overview of the field of environmental law and policies within the European Union (EU) and externally, 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... Read more

EU environmental governance revisited: an introduction

Amandine Orsini and Eleni Kavvatha

PART 1 Air quality and EU climate policy

1 The environment as a Human Right: new challenges, also in Europe?

Delphine Misonne and Camille Bertaux

2 EU climate policy

Tom Delreux and Christopher Crellin

PART 2 Energy policy

3 Safety, sustainability, and synchronization: the gap in EU policies on nuclear waste management

Janani Mohan

4 The transposition of renewable energy community provisions in Central and Eastern Europe: an evidence of varied polycentric governance systems

Loïc Cobut, Daniel Petrovics, and Thomas Bauwens

PART 3 Agriculture and biodiversity

5 Agriculture and biodiversity in Europe: the faded Green Deal – reversing the biodiversity collapse in the European farming sector

Ariel Brunner and Marilda Dhaskali

6 The European Union’s international ocean governance framework, a path toward a turquoise diplomacy

Tiago Pires Da Cruz

PART 4 Waste and health

7 The sustainable batteries regulation

Cándido García Molyneux

8 Toward an integrated policy framework for environmental governance? Genealogies, discourses, and practices of “One Health”

David Seke and François Thoreau

PART 5 Reconciling environmental concerns with market imperatives

9 EU trade and environmental policies: between contradiction and complementarity

Marcus Gustafsson, Victor Crochet and Elyse Kneller

10 Cleaning up the mess: latest developments in the EU – an answer to environmental conflicts

Angèle Minguet and Fabienne Haubold

PART 6 Upcoming challenges for the European Union

11 Arctic governance – an updated field of EU action

Eleni Kavvatha

12 Youth and EU environmental policy

Amandine Orsini

EU environmental governance revisited: conclusion

Amandine Orsini and Eleni Kavvatha

Biography

Amandine Orsini is Professor of International Relations at the UCLouvain Saint‑Louis – Bruxelles (USL‑B). She is Jean Monnet Chair on “the European Union and Global Green Politics: the Anthropocene Challenge” (EUGlobal‑Green) and is the academic Director of the advanced Master on EU environmental governance (POLLEN Master) at USL‑B. She has published Essential Concepts of Global Environmental Governance (2020) and Global Environmental Politics. Understanding the Governance of the Earth (2020).

Eleni Kavvatha is a researcher in Arctic and EU Relations at UCLouvain Saint‑Louis – Bruxelles, where she works for CReSPo (Centre of Research in Political Science) and the ISPOLE (Institut de Sciences Politique) under the supervision of Amandine Orsini. Her research is focused on the impact of EU environmental policies on the Sámi Indigenous People in the European Arctic region. She has worked in Belgium, Norway, Iceland, Svalbard, Greenland and the Finish Lapland, on subjects related to EU External Relations in the High North, non‑state actors in the Arctic, Indigenous Peoples Organizations, Arctic communities and Arctic Governance. She holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Governance and Sustainable Development from Panteion University of Political and Social Studies in Athens, followed by a Master’s degree in Governance and Entrepreneurship in Northern and Indigenous Areas from UiT, The Arctic University of Norway. She has co‑edited the previous edition of this book for Routledge publishing house under the title EU Environmental Governance: Current and Future Challenges and has several publications related to the Arctic.

"This second edition of EU Environmental Governance keeps the best insights of the first edition while insisting on crucial questions about the growing challenges faced by the European Union: can the EU remain a 'laboratory' for environmental politics and deal with the environment as a 'human right' whereas the Green Deal seems weakened? Can it reconcile its trade and environmental policies? Is the EU Arctic policy effective? How to integrate youth in environmental policy? A must-read collective book for all students and scholars interested in environmental governance and EU studies".

– Franck Petiteville, Professor of Political Science, University of Grenoble Alps, France

 

“The second edition of this interdisciplinary book offers a timely and insightful reconsideration of the EU governance system and its capacity to tackle the major environmental challenges arising from the 'triple planetary crisis' at both regional and global levels. The expert input provided in this book by both academics and practitioners will meaningfully contribute to developing much-needed informed policies and to specialized teaching and research activities. It represents an indispensable source of knowledge for anybody interested in environmental matters (researchers, students, NGOs, law and policy-makers, professionals, etc.) and a valuable addition to university libraries all over the world.”

– Stefania Negri, Associate Professor of International Law, University of Salerno, Italy