Full Steam Ahead or Dead in the Water? European Union Environmental Policy after the Economic Crisis

Abstract

For the EU, environmental policy has been posited as both a source of legitimacy and an opportunity for international leadership. However, concerns have been raised that the 2007–8 economic crisis and its consequences have negatively affected the EU’s environmental ambition. This chapter addresses this issue by comparing the pre-crisis and post-crisis policy intensity of three EU environmental policy subsectors (environment–industry, climate and energy, and air-quality policy) using the Index of Policy Activity (IPA). The results suggest that average policy intensity has increased in these subsectors since the economic crisis. The pre-crisis policy intensity in the climate and energy subsector was significantly lower than environment–industry or air-quality policy, but a rapid increase has led to a post-crisis convergence.