Environmental Policy in Europe

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Since the early 1970s, the European Community, the precursor to today’s European Union, has made environmental legislation and regulation central to its mission, establishing environmental policy as fundamental to modern-day Europe’s identity. The consequences of Brussels’s commitment to an increasingly active environmental agenda are felt both among the bloc’s Member States and across the globe. Beginning with the foundations of EU environmental policymaking and a brief survey of milestones of environmental progress, this course looks critically at the seven stages of the EU environmental policy process using core elements of the European Green Deal and more recent proposed legal acts as the primary objects of study. Since the second von der Leyen Commission, in January 2024, competitiveness and security concerns have come to dominate the policy debate, resulting in a series of de-regulations (so-called omnibus acts) and delays in implementation timeframes. The question is now where the EU is headed with its environment and climate policy. Students will develop in-depth knowledge of the EU policymaking process, track the trajectory of process evolutions over the past fifty years, and assess the impacts that environmental policy processes have on policy outcomes. This course is intended to be interdisciplinary, so prior specific knowledge of EU organizational structure or environmental policy is not required. Students are expected to complete light readings for class, perform independent online research, participate in class discussions, prepare a presentation, conduct a mock parliamentary debate and conclude with an oral exam. Guest speakers will join regularly during class in person and online to share their insights from directly working on European environmental policy. Guest speakers may be, e.g., staff of EU institutions, former or current European policy makers, stakeholders and civil society representatives. Guest speakers will be announced with advance notice so that students can prepare questions for the experts.