Written by two internationally respected scholars, this unique primer distills European Union environmental law and policy into a practical guide for a nonlegal audience, as well as for lawyers trained in other jurisdictions. The first part explains the basics of the European legal system, including key actors, types of laws, and regulatory instruments. The second part describes the EU’s overarching legal strategies for environmental management and delves into how the EU addresses the specific environmental issues of pollution, ecosystem management, and climate change. Chapters include summaries of key concepts and discussion questions, as well as informative "spotlights" offering brief overviews of topics. With a highly accessible structure and useful illustrative features, A Guide to EU Environmental Law provides a long-overdue synthetic resource on EU environmental law for students and for anyone working in environmental policy or environmental science. This text can also be read with the authors’ A Guide to US Environmental Law for a comparative look at how two important jurisdictions in the world deal with key environmental problems.