EU-UN Environmental Relations: Shared Competence and Effective Multilateralism

Abstract

The most important international initiatives to protect the global environment have been negotiated in the United Nations (UN) system. Despite the absence of environmental protection provisions in its Charter, the UN has brokered a number of multilateral agreements to address various international environmental concerns.² The UN’s ability to advance an international environmental agenda has depended on support and pressure from many of its influential member states, not least, the members of the European Union (EU).

The author would like to thank Caroline Bouchard for research assistance on this chapter.