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European environmental law

Introduction

There is a lot of EU legislation about environmental issues. Some of the main areas include:

A lot of EU legislation to protect the environment is quite technical, and sets out detailed technical and scientific standards which EU member states, like Ireland, must follow.

This type of legislation often states that EU member states must provide information to the European Commission outlining:

  • How they are implementing the rules
  • How effective the rules have been

As well as this, there are several international conventions on environmental protection. Generally, these are approved by the EU and then implemented through EU legislation.

How is EU legislation implemented and enforced?

The main bodies responsible for implementing environmental legislation in Ireland are the:

Some of the main environmental Acts include:

There is also a range of Statutory Instruments which implement legislation on specific legislation and directives.

You can find more information on these from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment.

How do the EU enforce environmental legislation?

EU environmental legislation is enforced in the same way as other EU legislation. The European Commission monitors that the legislation is being put into practice and can bring individual member states to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) if they do not apply it properly.

Environmental crimes are acts that break environmental legislation and cause significant harm or risk to the environment and human health. This includes:

  • Illegal emissions or discharges into air, water or soil
  • Illegal trade in wildlife
  • Illegal trade in ozone-depleting substances
  • Illegal shipment or dumping of waste

For more information about protecting the environment using criminal law, see Directive 2008/99/EC .

EU policy on the environment

EU policy on the environment is reflected in its legislation and supported by some financial programmes. The 8th Environment Action Programme of the EU, runs to 2030 and focuses on 6 areas:

  • Achieving the 2030 greenhouse gas emission reduction target and climate neutrality by 2050
  • Enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change
  • Advancing towards a regenerative growth model, separating economic growth from resource use and environmental degradation, and accelerating the transition to a circular economy
  • Pursuing a zero-pollution ambition, including for air, water and soil and protecting the health and well-being of Europeans
  • Protecting, preserving and restoring biodiversity, and enhancing natural capital
  • Reducing environmental and climate pressures related to production and consumption (particularly in the areas of energy, industry, buildings and infrastructure, mobility, tourism, international trade and the food system)

European Environment Agency (EEA)

The European Environment Agency (EEA) are a European agency which work with different organisations across Europe to generate information and data around sustainability in Europe. The EEA aims to support sustainable development and to help improve the environment by providing this information to policy makers and the public.

Financial support for environmental projects

LIFE is an EU co-financing programme which aims to contribute to the development, implementation and updating of EU environment policy and environmental legislation.

LIFE also aims to facilitate the integration of the environment into other policies, and achieve sustainable development in the EU.

There are 4 sub-programmes:

You can find more information about the LIFE programme on the European Commission website.

How do I access environmental information?

You have the right to get certain environmental information from a public authority.

To get access to environmental information, you can use:

These Regulations give effect in Ireland to the AIE Directive. This directive was adopted to support the Access to Information pillar of the Aarhus Convention.

As well as giving you the right to access environmental information, the AIE Regulations also require public authorities to be proactive about providing environmental information to the public.

Public authorities must inform the public of their rights and provide information and guidance on exercising those rights. They must also make reasonable efforts to maintain environmental information and have it in a form that is accessible and can be reproduced.

You can read the guidance notes (pdf) on the implementation of the AIE Regulations public authorities must have regard to.

For more information, see our page on Access to environmental information.

Page edited: 6 August 2024

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