Does Democratic Maturity Explain the Environmental Policy Differences within the EU?

Even though the European Union is currently hailed as a global leader in climate action, with its carbon neutrality goals and Green Deal commitments, member states have different abilities to address and overcome the environmental challenges. While much of the existent literature has focused on political agendas or economic endowments, we argue that the factors driving this differentiating capacity in climate action are much more salient. We account for four enabling layers for environmental regulation: economic constraints, governance process, Europeanization and rule of law, and democratic quality. Our empirical evidence shows the extent to which the ability to propose, design, implement and evaluate good environmental policy in EU countries depends on their democratic quality (i.e. deliberative functions, civil society participation, non-corrupt media, transparent policymaking, democratic accountability, popular support and stability).