Rights of Nature in the EU: A thought experiment to improve access to justice

Against the backdrop of the growing need for legal innovation in environmental protection, this article explores the interplay between Rights of Nature (RoN)—a legal theory asserting that the inherent moral value of nature must be protected legally by granting rights and legal personality to nature itself—and the EU constitutional right of access to justice. The contribution discusses whether the implementation of RoN and environmental legal personality (ELP) in EU law could enhance access to justice in environmental matters before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The analysis is carried out through a ‘thought experiment’, in which the annulment case Azores, at the time declared inadmissible, is re-assessed in a hypothetical scenario in which EU law has implemented RoN and granted ELP to specific natural entities. The ‘experiment’ demonstrates that implementing RoN in EU law would, under certain circumstances, allow natural entities to start an annulment action as a non-privileged applicant under Article 263(4) Treaty on the Function of the European Union and to fulfil the requirement of individual concern. This would result in an improvement in access to justice in environmental matters before the CJEU without the need to change the Plaumann doctrine and the requirements of admissibility contained in the Treaties.