AUTHORS: Camilla Adelle-Sirini Withana-David Baldock-Marc Pallemaerts-Peter Hjerp

This is a special independent report commissioned by the All-Party Parliamentary Environment Group (UK).

Environmental policy is one of the success stories of the EU. At its founding in 1957 the EU had no environmental dimension, but today it has some of the most progressive environmental policies in the world. As a result environmental standards in the Member States are on the whole higher than they would have been with purely national measures. In the UK over 80 per cent of environmental legislation now originates from the Union. Nonetheless despite these advances in legislation, significant environmental challenges persist and new ones are emerging. Further well focused effort is required both to meet existing targets and aspirations and to agree new actions and targets that will improve Europe’s environment and quality of life.