ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the problem of scarcity of resources and the approach presented by the EU towards this well-known problem, though a little overshadowed today, in the face of the climate neutrality agenda related to the human use of the environment. The contribution ponders elements of EU primary law connected with the challenge in question, such as the principle of sustainable development, the prevention principle and the principle that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source, reinforcing the goal of prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources. Also, it makes an attempt to review chosen examples of secondary soft and hard law of the EU. The task is to verify whether the EU is experiencing a paradigm shift in terms of the general view of environmental protection so that more attention is devoted to challenges (such as scarcity of resources), goals (such as prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources), principles (such as the principle of sustainable development) and instruments (such as intended regulations on raw materials) being conducive to taking actions to remedy the root cause (i.e., excessive use of the environment), as early as possible.
