Ecological Sustainability and the Law: the European Green Deal and the New Frontiers of Sustainability

This book is about the emergence of ecological sustainability as a new EU policy and legal objective, distinct and autonomous from sustainable development. It argues that sustainability can no longer be conflated into sustainable development only, but should be rather represented as a plural construction, in which ecological sustainability coexists next to sustainable development. While the latter orientates most of the regulatory measures stemming from the Green Deal, the former is playing an increasing relevant role in a number of legislative initiatives. The purpose of the volume is to discuss whether and how the EU legislator is exploiting the new opportunities brought forth by the redefinition of sustainability. To do so, a thematic approach has been adopted and the inquiry has been organized in five different parts, each devoted to one specific transition triggered by the European Green Deal. Navigating the dynamics of the many transitions occurring in the horizon of European climate neutrality, key chapters shed light on the EU regulatory schemes through which ecological sustainability is in the process of being operationalized and critically discuss their points of strength, weaknesses and underlying tensions. In doing so, they provide an overview of the of legal changes occurring in areas of topical interest such as agri-food, energy, digitalization, corporate governance and intellectual property, as well as a number of insights on the relevance of ecological sustainability for the internal dynamism of the European Green Deal.