Conclusions

Abstract

EU external environmental policy—defined as attempts to transfer the EU’s environmental rules, regulations and objectives to third countries and international organisations—has taken different forms and reached various degrees of effectiveness. This concluding chapter brings together the findings of this edited volume’s individual chapters and discusses common trends. It follows the structure of the introduction by first considering the EU’s ambition and coherence in internal and external environmental policy. Second, the mechanisms of external environmental policy and their interaction are examined before, third, the effects and effectiveness factors are discussed. The chapter concludes with some reflections on the future of EU external environmental policy.