EU environmental law

Christoph Hermes
Europa-Institut, Saarland University,
2021
Environmental problems and
regulation
Environmental problems
Environmental problems
Environmental problems
Environmental problems
The tragedy of the commons
The tragedy of the commons

 Situation in a shared-resource system

 where individual users, acting independently according to their own self-
interest,
 behave contrary to the common good of all users
 by depleting or spoiling the shared resource through their collective action.
The limits of the Earth’s carrying
capacity
Environmental regulation

 Need for a coordinated response: regulation by a public authority

 Examples of types of regulation

 Ban; criminal law

 Require authorization
 Standards for environmental quality

 Challenges of environmenal regulation

Steps in the historical development

 Creation of first national parks in the US at the end of 19th century

 International agreements on whaling (1946), oil pollution (1954) and fishing
(1958)
 Rachel Carson ”Silent Spring” (1962)
 Club of Rome “The Limits to Growth” (1972)
 Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment (1972)
 World Commission on Environment and Development Report “Our Common
Future” (1987)
 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio (1992)
 Kyoto Protocol (1997) and Paris Agreement (2015)
Levels of environmental regulation

 Local/regional
 National
 EU
 International
Professor Liz Fisher on environmental
law