The book gives detailed discussions of essential EU climate law and presents profound national reports which cover the transposition of EU law and focus on national climate strategies, which are often complex and sometimes also ambitious. Comparative studies at the grassroots level are an important source of ideas and possibilities and also useful documentation both for researchers and political actors.' - Erkki Hollo, University of Helsinki, Finland'This is an outstanding collection of essays by a multi-national team of leading scholars. It reminds us that in a system of multi-level governance, it is crucial to examine and appraise developments not only at the level of the European Union but also within the Member States. This task has become easier with the publication of this excellent book.' - Joanne Scott, University College London, UK The complex and multifaceted nature of EU climate legislation poses a major challenge for EU Member States. This timely book focuses on national climate action, addressing the regulatory responses required for the purposes of meeting greenhouse gas emissions reduction objectives for 2020 (and beyond). The book seeks to answer such questions as: what kind of legislative approaches should be developed to comply with EU climate law? What room for national discretion should remain? What opportunities exist to go beyond EU ambitions? In addition, distinguished authors analyze national regulatory developments across selected Member States, identifying potential areas for review and improvement. The book offers further discussion and legal analysis of core themes such as: long-term target setting; contrasting legislative approaches; instrument mixes; and key linkages between environmental and energy law. In light of the challenges confronting national legislators, this book offers important insights into the role and contribution of law towards improved climate protection, with potential lessons for countries both within and outside the EU. With this in mind, Climate Law in EU Member States will be a valuable read for policymakers and civil servants at national ministries and at the European Commission, carbon consultants and environmental non-governmental organizations, as well as for academics in and outside the EU. Contributors: E. Bergsma, J. de Cendra de Larragan, K. de Graaf, J. Gupta, N. Herve-Fournereau, M. Holwerda, G. Kaminskaite-Salters, L. Karski, A. Langlais, T. Parejo Navajas, M. Peeters, B. Pozzo, C. Reid, T. Schomerus, L. Squintani, M. Stallworthy, N. van der Grijp, S. Weishaar

In greater depth than any previous legal study in the field, this book deals with the way in which the European Union (EU) has dealt with climate change and with the distribution of the benefits and costs of climate change mitigation policies among affected parties. With extraordinary thoroughness the author assesses the legality of choices made (particularly concerning mitigation targets and timelines), and examines the role that legal principles can play in the adoption, interpretation, and judicial testing of distributional choices. His analysis of the tension between such choices and EU law is bolstered by an exploration of emerging legal principles which could provide additional guidance in this challenging and controversial area. Among the core issues dealt with are the following: * relationship among mitigation, adaptation, and sustainable development; * regulations as means to make distributional choices * distributional choices between generations and the principle of intergenerational justice * distributional choices concerning firms and individuals * the participation of affected parties in distributional choices * access to justice in EU courts to challenge violations of procedural environmental rights * the role of legal principles in making, evaluating and testing distributional choices * the principle of proportionality with its tests of appropriateness and necessity; * the principle of equality * the precautionary principle; * the principle of prevention; * the polluter pays principle; A concluding chapter offers deeply informed recommendations regarding the design of EU climate change law, including a preliminary assessment of EU wide personal carbon trading. In its insightful illumination of how the inevitable trade-offs, weaknesses, inconsistencies and ambiguities in the way law deals with distributional choices renders them vulnerable to external pressures, this book will be of enormous value to regulators and policymakers concerned with effective, efficient, and fair climate change measures.