EU Environmental law between protection and acceleration in the green transition

Sammanfattning

This thesis aims to identify the acceleration mechanisms and authorisation procedures introduced by the Renewable Energy Directive III and the Critical Raw Materials Act, as well as how these operate within the current regulatory framework of European Union (EU) environmental law. The scenario is characterised by a tension between the need to accelerate the green transition and the need to preserve environmental safeguards: the protection of biodiversity, environmental assessment and public participation. The analysis highlights the mechanisms that have the greatest impact on standard environmental safeguards and the bureaucratic tools that streamline authorisation procedures. The results show that the two legislative instruments do not accelerate in the same way; the Renewable Energy Directive III adopts a more far-reaching acceleration model, whilst the Critical Raw Materials Act adopts a model characterised predominantly by procedural streamlining. The thesis concludes that environmental law is increasingly adapting in response to urgent pressures.