How to be a Green Global Standard-Setter—The EU’s Externalization of the Environmental Integration Principle

This Chapter examines internal environmental measures as tools for the European Union’s (EU) external action. It notes that the EU, spurred by the environmental integration principle, has become increasingly coercive in externalizing internal environmental measures. Crucially, the external dimension of internal measures makes it relevant to appreciate the role of legislative institutions in constructing the EU as an external actor. The Chapter evaluates this role by assessing the legislative contribution to factors which enhance the potential of internal measures to set green global standards: timing and innovation, stringency and international law compatibility. The Chapter concludes that the Commission generally contributes most to the EU’s externalization of the environmental integration principle on questions of timing and international law compatibility. The Parliament spearheads EU leadership by pushing its environmental ambition. The Council contributes least to establishing EU internal measures as green global standards. Overall, the legislative institutions are increasingly aware of and strategic on the external dimension of EU internal measures. Notwithstanding, the EU’s effectiveness in this external dimension is not seldomly—and understandably—trumped by internal or non-environmental considerations. Consequently, the place of internal measures in EU external sustainability law will raise ever more legal questions in the years to come.