Environmental policies, bases for territorial planning. An approximation to the study of the environmental policies of the European Union. Challenges and future perspectives

Abstract

This work is aimed at analysing the functioning of the environmental policies of the European Union in order to address the use of these policies as well as the instruments to implement them, observing their efficacy to protect and preserve the environment in general and their particular social and human implications. First we will analyse international environmental policy, focusing on its consolidation through the creation of international organizations and treaties and on its theoretical background. Then, we will move forward to the development of environmental policy within the European Union, focusing on the functioning of this policy emphasizing its legal foundations on European Treaties. For this purpose we will analyse the principle of integration as well as the effectiveness of implementation regarding transposition of European law into national policy. We will also focus on the current situation of environmental policy within the Union going through the main innovations of the recent European Green Deal. Finally, some case studies will show us the reality of the European environmental policy and some of the challenges it will have to overcome in the near future. Through this work we will approach the repercussions the development of environmental policy has in international relations, paying special attention to its implications at supranational, national and regional scope within the European Union.