Dear Readers, 
we are pleased to present this special issue, which includes articles based on papers presented at the international conference “Biodiversity at the Crossroads – An (Im)possible Balancing Exercise between People, Climate and the Planet?”, organised in October 2024 within the Jean Monnet Module (Erasmus+ ) – “Sustainability and Climate Change in EU Law” (SustEULaw), carried out at the Chair of European Law of the Jagiellonian University.
The contributions focus on biodiversity protection as a key challenge in contemporary EU law, analysed in the broader context of sustainable development and climate transition. They present both a systemic and horizontal perspective advancing a holistic approach instead of classical measures of conservation and preservation (M. Baran) and more specific analyses, concerning the relationship between agriculture and environmental protection, as agriculture has in recent years become a key field for testing and developing new approaches to biodiversity protection (A. Suchoń).
Further articles address intra-environmental conflicts in the context of the energy transition, in particular in relation to the RED III Directive and principles of EU environmental law (V. Karageorgou), as well as biodiversity protection in third countries (M. P. Kostić), and the implementation of EU objectives at the national level within Member States (O. Mitaľ). The issue concludes with a comparative study on judicial protection of the environment (E. Nahavandi).
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the reviewers for their valuable contribution to the preparation of this special issue.

Inga Kawka, Alicja Sikora-Kaléda