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It is widely acknowledged that policies for a more sustainable society require narratives outside the status quo. This contribution studies the EU's environmental policy narrative of a circular economy (CE), which many consider promising in this respect. The results demonstrate that the CE narrative was created to transform EU policy discourses 'from within' but eventually perpetuated the established discourse of ecological modernization. This perpetuation resulted from specific strategic practices used to create the CE narrative, which (1) concealed conflict, (2) strengthened the agency of incumbents, and (3) excluded alternative voices. The analysis uses empirical evidence from 28 interviews with key stakeholders, 84 policy documents and participant observation data at the European Union (EU) level. The results suggest that the development of narratives outside the status quo depends on strategic practices that address (future) conflicts and offer new agency to change agents as well as transition strategies to incumbents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) has recently published its first list of invasive alien species (IAS) of EU concern to which current legislation must apply. The list comprises species known to pose great threats to biodiversity and needs to be maintained and updated. Horizon scanning is seen as critical to identify the most threatening potential IAS that do not yet occur in Europe to be subsequently risk assessed for future listing. Accordingly, we present a systematic consensus horizon scanning procedure to derive a ranked list of potential IAS likely to arrive, establish, spread and have an impact on biodiversity in the region over the next decade. The approach is unique in the continental scale examined, the breadth of taxonomic groups and environments considered, and the methods and data sources used. International experts were brought together to address five broad thematic groups of potential IAS. For each thematic group the experts first independently assembled lists of potential IAS not yet established in the EU but potentially threatening biodiversity if introduced. Experts were asked to score the species within their thematic group for their separate likelihoods of i) arrival, ii) establishment, iii) spread, and iv) magnitude of the potential negative impact on biodiversity within the EU. Experts then convened for a 2‐day workshop applying consensus methods to compile a ranked list of potential IAS. From an initial working list of 329 species, a list of 66 species not yet established in the EU that were considered to be very high (8 species), high (40 species) or medium (18 species) risk species was derived. Here, we present these species highlighting the potential negative impacts and the most likely biogeographic regions to be affected by these potential IAS. We identified 66 species, that are currently absent from the EU, which pose a very high, high or medium threat to biodiversity and ecosystems. The species span a range of functional groups, with primary producers being numerically dominant. Escape from confinement is the pathway considered to be the most likely route of introduction for many species, particularly among plants and vertebrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, innovative governance architectures have been progressively promoted across European Union (EU) environmental and climate policies with the purpose of improving the effectiveness of intervention through better cross-sectoral policy integration and increased involvement of sub-state and non-governmental actors in the policy process. By combining the theoretical insights of polycentric governance and the concept of usage, the case of the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) is analysed to uncover the extent to which this voluntary programme has empowered local authorities within the EU strategy for sustainable energy by encouraging coordination and learning. This illustrates how a range of policy variables determined the dynamics of the programme's implementation in Italy and the United Kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The leadership dynamics between the European Council, the Council and the Member States in European Union (EU) environmental policy since the 1970s are analysed. The puzzle is that, although the EU was set up as a 'leaderless Europe', it is widely seen as an environmental leader, albeit sometimes as a one-eyed leader amongst the blind. While differentiating between leadership types, it is argued that the European Council has the largest structural, the Council the most significant entrepreneurial, and the Member States the most important cognitive and exemplary leadership capacities. Most day-to-day environmental policy measures are negotiated by the Environment Council (in collaboration with the European Parliament). The European Council's increased interest in high politics climate change issues is largely due to the EU's global leadership ambitions. Member States have traditionally formed environmental leadership alliances on an ad hoc basis although this may be changing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the relationship between the energy efficiency and the stringency of environmental and market regulation in the electricity sectors has been analyzed. Using 19 European Union countries (2006-2014), we decomposed the environmental policy stringency index, the OECD regulatory indicators and the total factor productivity growth to highlight the complexity of the relations between electricity sector and regulatory policies. In the first stage we compute the three main components of total factor productivity. These three efficiency measures are used in the second stage to assess the impact of the regulatory policies on the total factor productivity also controlling for spatial effect. Results suggest that market and environmental regulations have not unidirectional impacts on the three components of total factor productivity. Pure and scale efficiency index are negatively affected by sectorial regulation that positively affect the shift of technological frontier. Environmental policy negatively affects the shift of the efficient frontier, but has a positive effect on the scale efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current article responds to a key puzzle and a question. First, why, given the potential for ‘rights talk’ that has been seen in other countries and other policy areas, have environmental rights in the European Union (EU) legal order been relatively invisible until recently? And second, with Daniel Kelemen’s influential work on Eurolegalism arguing that the EU has become much more reliant on United States-style adversarial legalism, including a shift towards rights-based litigation, do EU environmental rights fit the picture Kelemen has painted, or are they an exception? The article explores the visibility of EU environmental rights at EU level and then seeks to explain the possible reasons for visibility/invisibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agri-environmental schemes (AES) are a central component of the European environmental policy, but few of these schemes have been carefully evaluated and doubts are often expressed about their effectiveness. We use original data collected from winegrowers who participated in an AES targeting non-point source pollution from herbicides in 2011 and 2012 in the South region of France. Using the variation in the implementation of the scheme across time and space and a matching approach, we show that the quantity of herbicides used by participants in the scheme in 2011 ranges from 38 to 53% below what they would have used without the scheme and this percentage is between 42 and 50% in 2012. Further, our results suggest that least demanding AES options are effective in avoiding pollution peaks when weed pressure is high, whereas more demanding AES options guarantee an overall reduction in herbicide use, even during relatively easy farming years in which less weed pressure is experienced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ways in which climate adaptation is understood in the European Union is examined via three key policy documents: the Strategy on adaptation and the Green and White Papers that preceded it. Drawing on Poststructuralist Discourse Theory, light is shed on the implicit values and assumptions that underpin this recent policy initiative. The findings demonstrate a tension between the declared ambition to act on adaptation and implicit suggestions that nothing really has to change, and the challenge can be addressed by market and technological innovations, and by mainstreaming adaptation into existing sectoral policies. The policy discourse effectively serves to depoliticize choices societies make in response to climate change, presenting adaptation as a non-political issue. Insight into European adaptation discourse enables deeper understanding of recent policy developments and opens up possible entry points for critique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European Union (EU) climate/energy targets and policies are poised for the first full climate policy cycle - from adoption and implementation of the policy package for 2020, to reform for 2030. A dynamic approach to the ways in which EU policies affect policy development is developed by applying theories of domestic implementation, policy feedback and integration. Implementation experiences in Poland - the ‘least climate ambitious’ EU member state - affected Polish preferences for reformed EU policies. Existing EU policies, their ‘fit’ with Poland’s energy interests and change in anticipation of future EU policies explain much of the variation in preferences. Second, policy feedback from Poland significantly affected the EU 2030 climate and energy framework. As yet, the EU has succeeded only partly in gathering momentum through a ‘snowball’ effect whereby positive policy feedback from implementation generates further steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public justification for nature conservation currently rests on two pillars: hedonic (instrumental) values, and moral values. Yet, these representations appear to do little motivational work in practice; biodiversity continues to decline, and biodiversity policies face a wide implementation gap. In seven EU countries, we studied why people act for nature beyond professional obligations. We explore the motivations of 105 committed actors for nature in detail using life-history interviews, and trace these back to their childhood. Results show that the key concept for understanding committed action for nature is meaningfulness. People act for nature because nature is meaningful to them, connected to a life that makes sense and a difference in the world. These eudemonic values (expressing the meaningful life) constitute a crucial third pillar in the justification of nature conservation. Important policy implications are explored, e.g. with respect to public discourse and the encounter with nature in childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU-28 is one of the largest emitters of CO 2 in the world and the most committed to reducing emissions. However, the national environmental strategies of the Member States are still diverse. This study is aimed at evaluating the environmental performance of European economies by analysing the fluctuations of CO 2 emissions and their links with economic activity over the period 1950–2012. The methodological framework is based on a dynamic factor analysis to determine an index of the EU fluctuation of CO 2 emissions in parametric form. This index can be used to monitor the progress towards common behaviour across Member States, with a time-varying recursive method. Following this approach, we also track the efforts made to decouple CO 2 emissions from GDP. Based on these analyses, we develop a CO 2 emissions-GDP linkage matrix to attain useful information on the EU Member State environmental performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contamination of fresh water is a global concern. The huge impact of natural and anthropogenic organic substances that are constantly released into the environment, demands a better knowledge of the chemical status of Earth’s surface water. Water quality monitoring studies have been performed targeting different substances and/or classes of substances, in different regions of the world, using different types of sampling strategies and campaigns. This review article aims to gather the available dispersed information regarding the occurrence of priority substances (PSs) and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) that must be monitored in Europe in surface water, according to the European Union Directive 2013/39/EU and the Watch List of Decision 2015/495/EU, respectively. Other specific organic pollutants not considered in these EU documents as substances of high concern, but with reported elevated frequency of detection at high concentrations, are also discussed. The search comprised worldwide publications from 2012, considering at least one of the following criteria: 4 sampling campaigns per year, wet and dry seasons, temporal and/or spatial monitoring of surface (river, estuarine, lake and/or coastal waters) and ground waters. The highest concentrations were found for: (i) the PSs atrazine, alachlor, trifluralin, heptachlor, hexachlorocyclohexane, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate; (ii) the CECs azithromycin, clarithromycin, erythromycin, diclofenac, 17α-ethinylestradiol, imidacloprid and 2-ethylhexyl 4-methoxycinnamate; and (iii) other unregulated organic compounds (caffeine, naproxen, metolachlor, estriol, dimethoate, terbuthylazine, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, trimethoprim, ciprofloxacin, ketoprofen, atenolol, Bisphenol A, metoprolol, carbofuran, malathion, sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine and ofloxacin). Most frequent substances as well as those found at highest concentrations in different seasons and regions, together with available risk assessment data, may be useful to identify possible future PS candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union launched a set of policies as part of its 2020 climate and energy package aimed at meeting its 20/20/20 headline targets for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. This paper evaluates how successful new-to-the-market climate change mitigation technologies (CCMT) are in helping EU member states (MS) reach these goals and, furthermore, whether there are differences between sectors subject to EU-wide polices. To do so, we relate CCMT patent counts to two specific headline targets: (1) achieving 20% of gross final energy consumption from renewables, and (2) achieving a 20% increase in energy efficiency. Our results provide the first ex-post evaluation of the effectiveness of these technologies for combating climate change. Moreover, our sectoral impact assessment points to significant differences in the way in which these technologies contribute to policy goals across the sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems requires better coordination between policies span-ning freshwater, coastal and marine environments. Ecosystem-based management (EBM) has been promoted as a holistic and integrative approach for the safekeeping and protection of aquatic biodiversity. The paper assesses the degree to which key European environmental policies for the aquatic environment, namely the Birds and Habitats Directives, Water Framework Directive and Marine Strategy Framework Directive, individually support EBM and can work synergistically to implement EBM. This assessment is based on a review of legal texts, EU guidance and implementation documents. The paper concludes that EBM can be made operational by implementing these key environmental directives. Opportunities for improving the integration of EU environmental policies are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The close link between scientific knowledge, learning, and beliefs is particularly relevant in environmental policymaking and the interaction of environmental with economic development‐focused policies. This article contributes to a more refined understanding of the links among scientific knowledge, belief changes, and the move from a collaborative to an adversarial policy subsystem within the Advocacy Coalition Framework. It analyzes the process of drafting and negotiating the biofuels aspects of the European Renewable Energy Directive, which was dominated by political disagreements between two advocacy coalitions. Their initial agreement on increasing the share of renewable energies in transport turned into conflict after new scientific evidence emerged on the negative environmental and climate change impacts of crop‐based biofuels. The environmental coalition changed its empirical policy beliefs to reflect normative policy beliefs on environmental protection. This change in empirical policy beliefs uncovered a pre‐existing conflict with the normative policy beliefs of the economic development‐focused coalition. As a consequence, the collaborative policy subsystem shifted to an adversarial policy subsystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the editorial for the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews joint special issue devoted to the research work discussed and presented at the 11th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES), held from the 4th September to the 9th September 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal and the 2nd South East European (SEE) SDEWES Conference held from June 15th to June 18th, 2016 in Piran, Slovenia. This special issue is in line with the journal's aim of publishing research from across the ever-broadening field of renewable and sustainable energy with a strong review element. Previous SDEWES conference special issues have gathered a significant knowledge base in the field of sustainable development that reflects the continuous research efforts of the SDEWES research community. Therefore, this editorial provides not only an overview of the papers published in this particular special issue, but also a wider overview of the current trends in the domain of sustainable and renewable energy. This year's special issue focuses particularly on the benefits of the bio-based economy, energy security issues, fossil fuel thermal plant alternatives and environmental constraints, district heating and cooling together with cross sector energy efficiency and energy conservation issues. Sustainable transport systems, the issue of fuel poverty in urban neighbourhoods and renewable energy to support development of peripheral rural areas, optimising passive building design for hot climates and solar-powered heating and cooling are further topics featured in this special issue. In the process of selecting papers for this special issue, the guest editors invited in total 23 extended manuscripts for consideration for publication. After a rigorous review process by expert reviewers overseen by the guest editors a total of 16 articles were accepted for publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart grid technologies are an important dimension of electricity system change and governments have been actively involved in their diffusion in a number of jurisdictions. Deployment rates for technologies involving the public have varied, despite governments pursuing similar policies/programs and implementing comparable technologies, such as smart meters. An important question is why. Examining smart grids in the media can be helpful in understanding these differences. Media coverage represents a means through which to gauge how issues are being framed, which can in turn influence public perceptions of these technologies. We examine media coverage of smart grids in national-level Canadian newspapers over time to explore how often and what aspects of smart grids are emphasized within this context. We found that while initially more positive aspects of smart grids were highlighted, over time media coverage of smart grid technologies and deployment programs became more negative. This suggests that people's perceptions of technologies are likely entwined with the processes in which people become exposed to them – negative experiences with the implementation programs often correlated to negative perceptions of technologies. We also found that negative technology and program attributes were more pronounced in certain regions of Canada versus others despite embarking upon similar policies and programs aimed at advancing smart grids (introducing smart meters). In addition, the specific risks and benefits differed, depending on the sub-national geographic setting. Thus, in designing and executing policies, decision makers ought to be cognizant of issue framing and which ones will resonate more within their local context. As smart grid proponents seek to introduce a further array of technologies into societies, we suggest that they concurrently carefully consider the channels in which people become exposed to and experience these technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this article is to evaluate the extent to which the Cohesion Policy of the EU contributes to its climate change mitigation effort. While climate change mitigation and the EU Cohesion Policy have been both thoroughly studied theoretically, the novelty of the present article lies in an analysis of their mutual relationship. Also, a unique feature of this research is an analysis of the contribution of the Cohesion Policy to climate change mitigation over a period of 20 years, including a comparison of the three last programming periods (2000–2006, 2007–2013 and 2014–2020). The results of this research suggest that, while the beginning of the new millennium saw the Cohesion Policy neglecting the issue of climate change mitigation, the current programming period (2014–2020) placed it among its key priorities. This conclusion is supported by a comprehensive set of data on five selected indicators. This article also displays the results against the perspective of the overall climate change mitigation objectives of the EU. POLICY RELEVANCE The present article shows how a policy, which used to be considered rather distant from climate change, progressively adopted climate change mitigation as one of its principal objectives. As such, it provides a practical guidance on the integration of climate change mitigation in other policy areas, which may be applied not only in a supranational organisation but also on a national, regional or local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ulrich Beck characterized the transition from modern to late modern society as a shift from an industrial to a 'risk society.' Contemporary society is challenged by negative side effects ('risks') of modernization, including the increasing and imminent threat of global climate change. This article will test the validity of conceivable prescriptive elements associated with this sociological theory. In doing so, it will focus on the most recent legal developments aimed at tackling climate change within the EU. This paper finds that the precautionary approach is unable to sufficiently shape balanced legal intervention in this day and age. However, the approach adopted by the EU appears to be more successful in this respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important policy reforms for the European Union (EU) agriculture was the implementation of the Agenda 2000, which establishes a new framework for subsidies management, decoupled from both crop and animal production for the vast majority of products. One of the main goals of this new policy framework is the improvement of its environmental impact. Additionally, there is a need for the implementation of new efficiency assessment and prognostication tools for the evaluation of EU farming, because the influence of market forces has been increased substantially. Having in mind the efficacy of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology, it is used to calculate and quantify the environmental efficiency of EU countries' primary sectors. In this paper, the DEA Window methodology is used to assess GHG emissions efficiency and identify efficiency change of EU countries' primary sectors, under the strong influence of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), quantifying by this way its positive or negative impact on a national basis, providing at the same time hints for counteractive actions. The main results provide the significant differences among EU countries, with the less developed ones to perform low environmental efficiency rates. Moreover, countries which their output depends to a large extend on arable crops achieve low efficiency rates too. Finally, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are being used as a tool to estimate future performance of EU countries primary sectors on the topic of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions as an undesirable output of agricultural production process. The validation performance characteristics, as well as the linear fit to this output-target relationship, closely intersect the bottom-left and top-right corners of the plot. The combination of these methodologies provides a new methodological approach for CAP evaluation and prognostication, appropriately adjusted to the new market oriented framework for EU agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eurpean Union (EU) environmental policy has increasingly advanced multi-level governance (MLG) to improve policy implementation. MLG approaches mandate (sub-) national planning and introduce functional governance layers to match the biophysical scale of environmental problems. Whereas the literature on policy implementation has focused on thechallengesposed by multi-level systems, the described EU approach relies on MLG as astrategy to better policy implementation. This contribution studies the implementation of EU air quality directives, drawing on all 137 German air quality and action plans, to explore how requirements of multi-level implementation are delivered on the ground. Overall, we find the model of implementing air quality policy through MLG of limited success. In particular, sub-national policy-makers use their new planning competencies but struggle to implement functional governance layers. Mirroring experiences from neighbouring EU policy fields, our findings raise the broader issue of ‘failed’ implementation versus a still untapped potential for adaptation and governance learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses an analytical framework drawn from organisational studies to unpack and evaluate climate change relations under the EU–South Africa Strategic Partnership. The article finds that, while the EU and South Africa share a common purpose and high-level climate goals, many of the formal organisational structures set up under the partnership to tackle climate change and the environment are weak and have fallen into disuse. At the same time several factors outside of the strategic partnership, such as South Africa's hosting of the Durban climate change meeting, have played a significant role in promoting climate cooperation between the two partners. Therefore, while the strategic partnership creates an additional opportunity for climate cooperation, it is by no means the only or even the most important instrument in the EU's foreign policy tool box for negotiation and dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has discussed ways of regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by civil aircraft for almost 20 years. Over the past four years, a consensus has developed about a market-based mechanism in the form of a carbon offset system. This article describes the route to the agreement reached by ICAO's 39th Assembly, in order to contextualise the results and point out some of its limitations. It points to two main factors that contributed to the consensus: the role of the European Union, which sought to lead the negotiations, and the choice of a flexible and ultimately weak mechanism that received support from the international airlines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental policies of the European Union (EU) aim to increase the amount of renewable energy and to improve the use of waste streams. This will increase the amount of fly ash (FA) from biomass combustion, thereby increasing the need for its utilization. Biomass FA is a good fertilizer since it contains most of the nutrients that plants need. Sequential leaching would provide a more accurate assessment of the potential bioavailability of the harmful elements and nutrients than the pseudo-total and/or water-soluble concentration analysis that EU environmental legislation typically requires. This study investigated the effect of granulation and ammonium sulfate addition on the solubility and bioavailability of nutrients and harmful elements from peat and wood co-combustion FA by using sequential leaching and pseudo-total acid digestion. The recoveries of the easily bioavailable nutrients Ca, K, Mg, P, and S as well as the total bioavailability of Ca, K, Mg, and S reduced significantly after granulation. Therefore, granulation reduced the fertilizing effect of FA. The pseudo-total recovery of Ca, Mg, and S reduced after granulation, indicating that these types of FA form some very stable silicate compounds besides the common self-hardening products. Ammonium sulfate addition increased the recoveries of the easily bioavailable nutrients and total bioavailability recoveries of the Ca, K, and Mg back to the same levels as those in FA. The total bioavailability of the harmful elements As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn was very low, and this does not limit the usability of FA as a fertilizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of environmental taxation policies had reached most European countries by the late 1990s. The pricing of activities considered harmful to the environment has given rise to the design of various economic instruments, such as environmental taxes, aimed at promoting environmental responsibility and at enabling the Kyoto Protocol targets to be met, and at the same time generating a marked increase in tax revenues. The aim of this article is to examine whether convergence in environmental taxation has taken place among 27 EU countries, doing so by analyzing time series and applying unit root tests. Our findings show there has been no such convergence, overall, despite the existence of groups of countries with common patterns of behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the potential impact of the European Union’s Environmental Liability Directive (ELD)1 on the nanotechnology (NT) sector. In terms of risk governance the ELD represents a new paradigm, affording the environment an enhanced status both in legal and indeed ontological terms. However, the nature of the NT industry itself is such as to create complexity in the implementation of the ELD. Whilst the field of nano-toxicology is making advances, debate still prevails around issues pertaining to exposure, (eco)-toxicity, metrics, potential impact and legal causation. Levels of uncertainty remain high and hence measuring environmental impact is problematic. The paper addresses the potential environmental liability exposures of NT manufacturers and producers pursuant to the provisions of the ELD and by extension highlights the importance of the insurability of the liability risk all of which bears significance for the sustainability of the industry. It also examines the legal and regulatory challenges of the application of the ELD in the context of the NT industry, highlighting the challenges which this pervasive technology presents for regulatory policy. A cursory discussion of the legal theoretical underpinning of the directive helps to explain the rationale of the directive. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

According to Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, EFSA has reviewed the maximum residue levels (MRLs) currently established at European level for the pesticide active substance chlorpyrifos. To assess the occurrence of chlorpyrifos residues in plants, processed commodities, rotational crops and livestock, EFSA considered the conclusions derived in the framework of Directive 91/414/EEC, the MRLs established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission as well as the European authorisations reported by Member States (including the supporting residues data). Based on the assessment of the available data, MRL proposals were derived and a consumer risk assessment was carried out. Some information required by the regulatory framework was missing and possible chronic and acute risks to consumers were identified. Hence, the consumer risk assessment is considered indicative only, some MRL proposals derived by EFSA still requires further consideration by risk managers and measures for reduction of the consumer exposure should also be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on policy dismantling has largely neglected the supranational level due to the expansionist nature of the European Union (EU) system. Yet, political claims to slow down, halt or even reverse the expansion of EU's regulatory scope has altered this premise in the aftermath of the 2008 and 2009 economic crisis. This article aims to extend our state of knowledge beyond theoretical expectations and mere political rhetoric. We provide an encompassing longitudinal analysis of EU policy outputs from 1980 to 2014 in the area of clean air and water protection policy. We find that the EU has entered an exceptionally long four-year period of almost complete regulatory inactivity after the year 2010. Thus, the observed patterns reveal a picture of passive policy dismantling by default. The European Commission largely accounts for this shift as it significantly decreased the number of new and ambitious policy proposals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reducing carbon emissions from the transport sector has become a critical imperative for public policy as our understanding of the impacts of the mobility system on the environment has developed. This paper contrasts policy development in three cities (Aberdeen, Bremen and Malmö) that collaborated as part of a European Union knowledge exchange programme designed to share innovative approaches to carbon reduction in the transport sector. We identify a number of critical aspects of governance, including the approach to policy formulation and implementation, and the status of consensus and cohesion, as key determinants of transport outcomes. We conclude that the degree of institutional alignment evident in each city’s governance network is crucial in explaining their appetite for the pursuit of low carbon policies, and in turn the real potential for policy transfer to occur as envisaged by European Union collaboration frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article makes a contribution to the critique of market-based mechanisms for climate and energy policy. It explores the environmental effectiveness of market instruments by engaging a broadly conceived 'fossil fuel landscape', or the material, social, and political inertia of fossil energy dependence, as a factor delimiting policy outcomes. The argument is developed through a focus on the idea of economic efficiency as a key ideological construct underlying market-based policy, and draws on examples from two different market instruments, namely the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, and the Flemish tradable green certificate scheme. I argue that an understanding of the shortcomings of these, and similar, policies requires acknowledgment of the political and socio-economic power that emanates from the temporal dynamics of fossil fuel capitalism, which are reproduced when economic efficiency becomes the key focus of climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agri-environmental programme (AEP) is the European Union policy instrument used for the delivery of environmental services expected by the society, but societal expectations for these environmental services are insufficiently assessed. In order to realistically meet the expectations of AEP, this research utilises analytical hierarchy process based web survey to assess the importance that various societal stakeholders in the European countries of Slovenia and Croatia give to specific environmental services and to also identify the agricultural practices that have the greatest potential to realise the expectations that society values the most. All stakeholders (overall group) from Slovenia and Croatia ranked water quality and availability as the first most important environmental service, and reduction of pesticides as the most important agricultural practice to deliver societal expectations. The results indicate that there is similar demand for environmental services in these two countries that differ in their agricultural settings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals ( REACH) is the most important piece of European Union legislation for the management of chemicals. It is characterized by a hybrid nature, as it combines traditional and new governance approaches. This article reviews REACH hybrid features and analyses how they are affecting the implementation process. It concludes that the search for increased flexibility and participation within a traditional form of governance has contributed, through a learning process, to managing REACH complexity and developing practical solutions to improve implementation. However, it also causes uncertainty and inefficiency, especially when flexibility masks substantial problems that have been postponed by decision makers to the implementation phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a review of published studies and new analyses of publicly available data, we assess how the European Union (EU) Nature Directives complements the CBD strategic goals for 2020 as set out in the 20 Aichi Targets, thereby addressing a question posed by the European Commission about the coherence of the Directives with other international biodiversity commitments. We find evidence that the Directives complement several Aichi Targets and other Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). For example, 92% of the EU's Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs), many of them otherwise unprotected, are partly or wholly covered by the Natura 2000 network of protected areas (contributing to Aichi Target 11). Species listed on Annex I of the Birds Directive have fared better than other species (Aichi Target 12). As 65% of EU citizens live within 5 km of a Natura 2000 site, and 98% within 20 km, these sites have the potential to raise awareness of biodiversity (Aichi Target 1) and to deliver ecosystem services to a high proportion of the EU's population (Aichi Target 14). The Nature Directives provide a regulatory framework that, with fuller implementation, will help EU Member States to meet their obligations under the CBD and other MEAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies have proven effective at raising consumer awareness, expanding waste collection infrastructure, and shifting costs of end-of-life (EOL) management from municipalities to stewardship organizations. Yet, such policies have been less successful in advancing waste management programs that ensure a net environmental benefit. This article analyzes how EPR policies for single-use batteries in the European Union (EU), Canada, and the United States address the environmental costs and benefits of EOL management. Considering these EPR policies is instructive, because single-use batteries have high collection costs and are of relatively low economic value for waste processors. Without deliberate planning, the environmental burdens of collecting and recycling such batteries may exceed the benefits. This article considers how EPR policies for single-use batteries integrate performance requirements such as collection rates, recycling efficiencies, and best available techniques. It argues that for such policies to be effective, they need to be extended to address waste collection practices, the life cycle consequences of EOL management, and the quality of recovered materials. Such strategies are relevant to EPR policies for other products with marginal secondary value, including some textiles, plastics, and other types of electronic waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If in the European Community Treaty appears for the first time the term "environmental policy of the European Union", by the Maastricht Treaty environmental protection becomes "a key priority of the European Union" and sustainable development is considered an important pillar in environmental policy. Therefore, in 2001 the first Sustainable Development Strategy of the European Union was adopted. The strategy has been modified in 2002 at the European Council in Barcelona as a result of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, but also in 2004 and 2005. The revised edition of the Sustainable Development Strategy of the European Union was published in 2006. In 2010, Europe 2020 Strategy was adopted - the European Union's strategy for economic growth for the next decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The financial crisis has triggered demands to halt and even reverse the expansion of European Union (EU) policies. But have these and previous demands actually resulted in policy dismantling? The existing literature has charted the rise of dismantling discourses such as subsidiarity and better regulation, but has not examined the net effect on the acquis. For the first time, this contribution addresses this gap in the literature through an empirical study of policy change between 1992 and 2014. It is guided by a coding framework which captures the direction of policy change. It reveals that, despite its disposition towards consensualism, the EU has become a new locus of policy dismantling. However, not all policies targeted have been cut; many have stayed the same and some have even expanded. It concludes by identifying new directions for research on a topic that has continually fallen into the analytical blind spot of EU scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Woody biomass from the southeast United States is expected to play an important role in meeting European Union renewable energy targets. In crafting policies to guide bioenergy development and in guiding investment decisions to meet established policy goals, a firm understanding of the interaction between policy targets and forest biomass markets is necessary, as is the effect that this interaction will have on environmental and economic objectives. This analysis increases our understanding of these interactions by modeling the response of southern US forest markets to new pellet demand in the presence of sustainability sourcing or harvest criteria. We first assess the influence of EU recommended sustainability guidelines on the forest inventory available to supply EU markets, and then model changes in forest composition and extent in response to expected increases in pellet demand. Next, we assess how sustainability guidelines can influence the evolution of forest markets in the region, paying particular attention to changes in land use and forest carbon. Regardless of whether sustainability guidelines are applied, we find increased removals, an increase in forest area, and little change in forest inventory. We also find annual gains in forest carbon in most years of the analysis. The incremental effect of sustainability guideline application on forest carbon and pellet greenhouse gas ( GHG) balance is difficult to discern, but results suggest that guidelines could be steering production away from sensitive forest types inherently less responsive to changing market conditions. Pellet GHG balance shows significant annual change and is attributable to the complexity of the underlying forest landscape. The manner by which GHG balance is tracked is thus a critical policy decision, reinforcing the importance and relevance of current efforts to develop approaches to accurately account for the GHG implications of biomass use both in the United States and European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we challenge Kurzer and Cooper's claim that the industry was able to get its way in the Food Information to Consumers Regulation by successfully lobbying the European Parliament and benefiting from an industry-friendly rapporteur. We scrutinize their findings through a comprehensive analysis of all amendments tabled in the environmental committee at first reading and a process tracing of the 12 most salient issues. Our results indicate a rather balanced rapporteur and show that both the ENVI committee and the plenary EP changed the regulation in favour of consumer interests on a significant number of points, with key victories for the industry being the result of pressure from the Council, not from the European Parliament. We explain these results on the basis of earlier work examining the role-behaviour of rapporteurs and the functioning of Parliament committees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the scientific literature, few valuations of biodiversity and ecosystem services following the impacts of toxicity are available, hampered by the lack of ecotoxicological documentation. Here, tributyltin is used to conduct a contingent valuation study as well as cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of measures for improving the environmental status in Swedish coastal waters of the Baltic Sea. Benefits considering different dimensions when assessing environmental status are highlighted and a quantitative environmental assessment framework based on available technology, ecological conditions, and economic valuation methodology is developed. Two scenarios are used in the valuation study: (a) achieving good environmental status by 2020 in accordance with EU legislation (USD 119 household year) and (b) achieving visible improvements by 2100 due to natural degradation (USD 108 household year) during 8 years. The later scenario was used to illustrate an application of the assessment framework. The CBA results indicate that both scenarios might generate a welfare improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares existing livestock emissions and projections on three different spatial levels (global, European, national) and on two sets of system boundaries (inventory data and emission data considering the whole lifecycle). It aims to provide insight in the validity of scenario data of national Austrian livestock emissions. This entails the use of national greenhouse gas emission trends until 2030 – specifically for Austria – as well as EU-based assessments of country emissions up to 2050. In addition, global emission data was extracted from the representative concentration pathways (RCPs) database for the years 2000–2100. Extending national emission projections up to 2100 by combining different datasets connects national emission policies to international strategies. It becomes clear that the goal of keeping average global temperature rise under 2 °C (represented by RCP2.6), even in the medium term to 2030 and only looking at the livestock sector, is much more ambitious than any of the national projections. Furthermore, inventory emission data is set in contrast to emission data considering the whole lifecycle of meat products in Austria, with an overview of assessments from pork and beef production. Emissions reported in inventories represent roughly half of those assigned to the livestock sector in life cycle studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate finance constitutes an integral part of the European Union’s climate policy. Yet, climate policy is increasingly addressed by non-environmental institutions. In examining the transfer of climate finance from the Environment Council to the Council for Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) in spring 2009, I analyse how climate finance has been framed in ECOFIN. Two finance ministerial framings quickly became intrinsic to ECOFIN and had a substantial influence on climate finance decisions: securing an effective response to climate change and limiting public expenditure. While policy entrepreneurs managed to build a consensus on most issues around an effective response to climate change, Member States at the October 2009 ECOFIN Council could not agree on a joint position due to some Member States’ emphasis on limiting expenditure. Only the European Council was capable of resolving the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction to the journal is presented which discusses the associations between Europeanization and the evolution of environmental governance in the Western Balkans and South East Europe.

The European Union (EU) is widely assumed to be a global environmental leader, especially in addressing climate change, though this reputation suffered greatly when European leaders were sidelined during the 2009 United Nations Climate Summit in Copenhagen. Subsequently, however, the EU has made significant progress in extending its Emission Trading System to the aviation sector, one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and did so not only regionally, but also managed to get it onto the global policy agenda. This contribution investigates the EU's role in shaping the 2013 International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) resolution committing 191 government signatories to developing a global market-based measure to cap international aviation's carbon pollution. While not exactly setting new environmental standards or achieving definitive regulatory success, the case illustrates the agenda-setting capacity of the EU through leveraging its market power and adopting an explicitly extra-territorial rule to induce potential regulatory co-operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union's (EU's) regulations affect how business is conducted and consumers and the environment protected in parts of the world far beyond its borders. Moreover, the external impact of its regulations informs understandings of the EU as a global actor. This contribution makes three main arguments. First, the EU's regulatory influence varies systematically across different forms of regulatory interaction: regulatory competition and different forms of regulatory co-operation. The form of regulatory interaction, therefore, is a critical intervening variable between the EU's regulatory power resources and its influence. Second, within the different forms of regulatory co-operation the EU's influence varies in line with expectations derived from the literature. But, third, the magnitude of the EU's influence seems to be considerably less in regulatory co-operation than suggested by the literature on regulatory competition; a finding that reinforces the first argument. The contribution also introduces the rest of the special issue, identifying three overarching conclusions: the utility of the EU's regulatory power resources is context specific; debates about what kind of power the EU is, at least as previously conceived, are unproductive; and that the EU's engagement in the world is better explained through general theories of international political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a relationship between established democratic political systems and environmental capacity has been described, the impact of the democratisation process on environmental capacity is not clear. The aim of this article is to determine the effect of both prior regime type and mode of transition on environmental capacity, through consideration of the cases of Bulgaria, Portugal, Romania and Spain. In addition, the importance of the European Union ( EU) as an external actor shaping environmental capacity building is assessed. Findings indicate that variations in prior regime type and mode of transition had limited impact on environmental capacity development. Of greater importance were the persistent non-democratic legacies that influenced behaviours and actions during the democratisation period. The requirements of the EU were fundamental in ensuring that environmental issues remained on the domestic political agenda in such a context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union has made extensive biodiversity conservation efforts with the Habitats and Birds Directives and with the establishment of the Natura 2000 network of protected areas, one of the largest networks of conservation areas worldwide. We performed a gap analysis of the entire Natura 2000 system plus national protected areas and all terrestrial vertebrates (freshwater fish excluded). We also evaluated the level of connectivity of both systems, providing therefore a first estimate of the functionality of the Natura 2000 system as an effective network of protected areas. Together national protected areas and the Natura 2000 network covered more than one-third of the European Union. National protected areas did not offer protection to 13 total gap species (i.e., species not covered by any protected area) or to almost 300 partial gap species (i.e., species whose representation target is not met). Together the Natura 2000 network and national protected areas left 1 total gap species and 121 partial gap species unprotected. The terrestrial vertebrates listed in the Habitats and Birds Directives were relatively well covered (especially birds), and overall connectivity was improved considerably by Natura 2000 sites that act as stepping stones between national protected areas. Overall, we found that the Natura 2000 network represents at continental level an important network of protected areas that acts as a good complement to existing national protected areas. However, a number of problems remain that are mainly linked to the criteria used to list the species in the Habitats and Birds Directives. The European Commission initiated in 2014 a process aimed at assessing the importance of the Birds and Habitats Directives for biodiversity conservation. Our results contribute to this assessment and suggest the system is largely effective for terrestrial vertebrates but would benefit from further updating of the species lists and field management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe is a region of relatively high population density and productive agriculture subject to substantial government intervention under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Many habitats and species of high conservation interest have been created by the maintenance of agricultural practices over long periods. These practices are often no longer profitable, and nature conservation initiatives require government support to cover the cost for them to be continued. The CAP has been reformed both to reduce production of agricultural commodities at costs in excess of world prices and to establish incentives for landholders to adopt voluntary conservation measures. A separate nature conservation policy has established an extensive series of protected sites (Natura 2000) that has, as yet, failed to halt the loss of biodiversity. Additional broader scale approaches have been advocated for conservation in the wider landscape matrix, including the alignment of agricultural and nature conservation policies, which remains a challenge. Possibilities for alignment include further shifting of funds from general support for farmers toward targeted payments for biodiversity goals at larger scales and adoption of an ecosystem approach. The European response to the competing demands for land resources may offer lessons globally as demands on rural land increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) is usually described as a promoter of global environmental governance, committed to sustainability and the precautionary principle. Regarding international fisheries management, however, the EU has repeatedly deviated from these principles. This article analyses the EU's policy in two Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs): the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). The EU's deviation from its environmental principles is explained by the weakness of the pro-environmental advocacy coalition in the EU's fisheries policy subsystem and the overcapacity of the EU's fleet, which first arose when European fishing nations were excluded from traditional fishing grounds during the creation of Exclusive Economic Zones in the 1970s. At the same time the article finds evidence of a trend towards sustainability and precaution in the EU's external fisheries policy since the mid-2000s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]