The contribution discusses four of the five main global challenges to the environment, namely climate change, the loss of biodiversity, the omnipresence of chemicals, and the management of resources. For reasons of space, it will not discuss the fifth and most important environmental challenge, which is the eradication of poverty. For each of the remaining challenges, the contribution describes
... [Show full abstract] the EU approach, points out the successes and deficiencies of that approach and the institutional difficulty of the EU taking new initiatives at international level in order to better protect the environment.
