Formation/Cours

The European Union (EU) is confronted by the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Effectively responding to these environmental issues also involves balancing economic and social concerns. Within the EU, recent policy packages like the European Green Deal have prioritized a move towards carbon neutrality and zero pollution, while also promising a ‘green’ economic growth and a ‘just transition’. Yet, the EU’s efforts to create a more sustainable future have faced many challenges, both internally and externally. Internally, sectoral interests, recent backlash to environmental regulations, and an increased emphasis on economic competitiveness have lowered political support for the transformative policies needed to put the EU on a more sustainable path. Externally, geopolitical tensions have hampered collective action on sustainability, at a moment where the world is largely off track to meet its climate and biodiversity targets and thereby avert potentially irreversible changes to the environment.

This course provides students with a detailed overview of EU sustainability policy, the external and internal factors shaping it, its achievements thus far, and potential challenges to the EU’s ability to deliver a just and prosperous future for its citizens. Accordingly, the course is split into two main units: (1) Building blocks and key concepts and (2) Empirical exploration of a selected number of policy areas related to the sustainability domain. It concludes with a student symposium on EU sustainability policies in action at a local and regional level. By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the EU’s main sustainability policies, as well as related actors and processes


• Explain how various internal and external factors shape EU environmental policy


• Identify the main debates and concepts in the analysis of internal and external EU sustainability policies


• Critically analyze EU sustainability policies and provide concrete recommendations

Part 1: Building blocks and key concepts

Session 1: Introduction and EU governance refresher

Session 2: Introduction to (EU) sustainability politics

Part 2: Sustainability across specific policy areas

Session 3: Climate mitigation

Session 4: Climate adaptation

Session 5: Biodiversity

Session 6: Mobility and transport

Session 7: Circular economy

Part 3: EU sustainability governance in action

Session 8: Student symposium with KU Leuven (field trip)