The importance of article 11 TFEU for regulating business in the EU: securing the very basis of our existence

states that Environmental protection requirements must be integrated into the definition and implementation of the Union policies and activities, in particular with a view to promoting sustainable development. This rule encapsulates a legal principle that constitutes one of the most important elements of EU environmental law.2 Indeed, Article 11 TFEU is arguably one of the fundamentally most important provisions in EU treaty law as a whole. Integrating environmental protection in all areas to the extent necessary to secure sustainable development is a prerequisite to securing the very basis of our existence. Economic development and social welfare or, as formulated as an objective of EU law: achieving ‘a highly competitive social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress’, is in the long run fully dependent on the stability of our ecosystems.