Environmental Governance and Legal Integration in the European Union under Digital Transformation

Hottó, István (2025) Environmental Governance and Legal Integration in the European Union under Digital Transformation. STUDIA JURIDICA ET POLITICA JAURINENSIS, 12 (2). pp. 107-122. ISSN 2064-5902

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Abstract

This paper examines how the European Union’s environmental governance and legal harmonisation are being reshaped by digital transformation. Using legal analysis, it explores how core environmental principles – such as the precautionary principle, the polluter pays principle, and the integration principle – are being operationalised through data-driven regulation, real-time environmental monitoring and cross-border digital cooperation. It analyses how these digital mechanisms can make regulation more targeted and adaptive, enhance compliance and transparency, and require new legal instruments for cross-border coordination. The findings suggest that digital tools have the potential to strengthen both environmental protection and legal harmonisation, while also posing challenges of data standardisation, interoperability, and institutional capacity. The paper concludes that EU environmental law can remain effective only if its legal frameworks are adapted to integrate these emerging digital instruments in a coherent and principle-based manner.

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