Environmental Policy: Progress, Challenges and Future Directions

This chapter underscores the importance of environmental protection and the necessity of a comprehensive Environmental Policy. It recounts the initial steps taken leading up to the Stockholm Conference and delves into the seven Environmental Action Programmes conceived and executed to date. The chapter also discusses the proposed provisions of the upcoming eighth Environmental Action Programme, framed within the New Strategic Agenda 2019–2024 and the European Green Deal aiming for climate neutrality by 2050. The chapter concludes with a succinct evaluation of the European Union’s Environmental Policy.