Transparent Enforcement: Access to Information related to the Monitoring of EU Environmental Law: The Case of the EU Emissions Trading System

This study examines to what extent the right to access environmental information - which is enshrined in the Aarhus Convention, the Environmental Information Directive, and national law - can be used by the public to access information related to compliance with EU environmental law with a view to identifying non-compliance. The study looks at the EU Emissions Trading System as an example of EU environmental law and applies a threefold methodology - doctrinal, comparative, and empirical - in order to determine whether information that is necessary to identify non-compliance must be made available upon request. To that end, the study examines the three central concepts of the right to access environmental information – the definition of ‘environmental information’, the definition of ‘public authorities’, and the grounds based on which a request for access to environmental information can be refused. Moreover, the study analyses to what extent information that is relevant for checking compliance with EU environmental law is made available in practice.