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Intra-environmental Conflicts in the Context of the Sustainable Energy Transition at the EU Level: Analyzing the Respective Legislative Developments (RED III Directive) and the Role of the Principles of EU Environmental Law

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  • Vasiliki Karageorgou
Vasiliki Karageorgou
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences

Published 2026-06-10

Keywords

  • Intra-environmental conflicts,
  • RED III Directive,
  • EU Environmental Principles,
  • Environmental Interests,
  • Sustainable Energy Transition
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Intra-environmental Conflicts in the Context of the Sustainable Energy Transition at the EU Level: Analyzing the Respective Legislative Developments (RED III Directive) and the Role of the Principles of EU Environmental Law: Konflikty wewnątrzśrodowiskowe w kontekście zrównoważonej transformacji energetycznej na poziomie Unii Europejskiej: analiza rozwoju ustawodawstwa (dyrektywa RED III) oraz roli zasad unijnego prawa ochrony środowiska. (2026). Studia Prawnicze The Legal Studies, 1-36. https://doi.org/10.37232/sp.2026e

Abstract

The main research question which the article aims to address concerns whether the EU environmental principles can provide normative guidance for the resolution of intra-environmental conflicts. These conflicts arise from legal instruments, such as the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) III, that aim to promote the growth of projects for renewable energy sources as a critical means of promoting the sustainable energy transition. The first conclusion is that these conflicts are resolved in favor of climate-related interests and at the expense of other environmental interests in the context of the RED III Directive. A second conclusion is that the EU environmental principles are critical in limiting the prioritization of one category of environmental interests over others. Therefore, critical regulatory choices made in the RED III Directive do not comply with the criteria arising from the environmental principles.

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