Integrating Environmental Justice into EU Policymaking

This chapter presents the steps undertaken by the European Union to add the well-being dimension to growth as an indicator and compass for its policies. First, it shows that despite the EU’s efforts to make sustainable development and the fight against poverty and inequality genuine political priorities, the assessment of the EU policy is quite severe: the efforts to protect the environment have not been really successful, while the COVID-19 pandemic reveals the incapacity of the EU to counter poverty, exclusion and inequality. Second, this chapter argues that environmental justice continues to be the poor relation of European policies and preoccupations, which is one of the reasons for the EU’s difficulty in achieving well-being for its citizens. The chapter goes on to propose a new legal framework, an Environmental Treaty, which would give top legislative priority to respect for nature rights and environmental rights and to respect for planetary boundaries while leaving no one behind—a proposal which could, finally, put an end to the constant incoherencies of EU policies.