2015 was a watershed year for addressing global challenges. Under the umbrella of the United Nations, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction were adopted. Six years after their adoption,...

In June 2002, the European Commission introduced an internal administrative procedure with the aim to assess potential economic, social and environmental effects of all its major initiatives during the policy formulation process. This so-called integrated impact assessment system is intended to...

The EU is presently in a transition phase from environmental policy making by law towards other governance approaches based upon networking, voluntary commitments, benchmarking and other forms of soft law. Those new governance approaches often claim to lead to better regulation, while adopting a...