ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief overview of how the field of European Union (EU) environmental policy has developed over the years, and it describes what kind of field environmental policy is compared to the other EU policy fields. The rapid growth of the environmental policy agenda of the EU can also be illustrated by the growth in the institutional capacities of the EU in the field. The chapter discusses the crucial EU green norms that provide the base for EU environmental policy. The ecological modernization perspective can be used both as an analytical tool and as a normative prescription. In both cases the idea is that environmental measures can create lead markets for environmental technology, which, in turn, has a positive impact on economic growth, and thus there is a 'win-win' situation between economic growth and the protection of the environment. The EU understands the term 'sustainable development' as being in line with the definition included in the Brundtland Report.
