This master's thesis examines European Union (EU) environmental law from the perspective of human rights theory. The starting point is the recent recognition of the right to a "clean, healthy, and sustainable environment" in resolutions of the Human Rights Council and the United Nations General Assembly. The protection of human rights and the environment are also among the priority objectives of the EU. In this light, the research objective of this thesis is to determine how the relationship between human rights and the environment in EU law affects the realization of the moral and legal dimensions of the right to a healthy environment in the EU. The thesis first analyses the rationale for this right within the framework of three moral theories (natural law, capabilities approach, deep ecology) and the legal aspect of the realization of human rights within the framework of positive law theory, and then assesses its practical implementation in EU environmental law. The empirical analysis covers four key areas: air quality, water quality, biodiversity preservation, and measures to combat climate change. The key finding is that EU law already contains important moral reasons for environmental protection in all the environmental areas considered, but that the legal institutionalisation of the right to a healthy environment lags behind its moral justification. EU law currently recognizes mainly so-called "silent rights", while the right to a healthy environment has not yet been systematically incorporated into EU law as a full-fledged fundamental right. One of the biggest challenges in the future will therefore be to translate environmental challenges into the constitutional language of the Union's values, principles, and rights.
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