Abstract

The article observes a profound transformation of legal instruments in EU environmental law. It assesses the transformative process and develops research perspectives. The article illustrates and addresses multiple dimensions of transformation. In one dimension, EU institutions increasingly choose regulations instead of directives as legal forms of fundamental acts of EU environmental law. A second dimension is the establishment of “iterative planning procedures” in order to pursue long-term environmental goals. These procedures span supranational and national administrative institutions and are subject to recurring evaluation and recommendation by the European Commission. In a third dimension, delegated regulations of the European Commission are increasingly important, for example, in the governance structures of the Taxonomy Regulation. In all explored dimensions, EU institutions are pursuing the goal to minimize implementation deficits of EU environmental law. Additional, drivers of transformation are EU treaty reforms, complexities of EU institutional practice and changes in global and regional environmental conditions. The article shows that the multi-dimensional transformation of legal instruments raises a range of questions of EU primary law concerning, e. g., the federal dimension of proportionality, judicial review of planning procedures and the legal framework of delegated acts in Article 290 TFEU.