The effects of European environmental policy on the Union's external action

The activity of the various EU institutional actors in the environmental field has evolved over time and is leading to the adoption of an increasingly comprehensive body of legislation. However, as also pointed out in the EU Green Deal, the Union's efforts can be thwarted by the various process of relocation, offshoring of firms and companies and their supply chains towards countries with less stringent regulations, or by the replacement of EU products by imported products that are more carbon-intensive or otherwise have a greater life-cycle impact on the environment. At the same time, especially in environmental matters it is possible to highlight the impact of the so-called “Brussels effect”, the ability of the Union to trigger legislative and regulatory changes in other international organizations and third states or at least to influence the adoption of its standards on multinational companies. The aim of this presentation is therefore to underline the coherence between the evolution of EU internal environmental policy and the concurrent development of its external environmental action.