This book investigates the EU policy making process and why this process has taken major steps to advance environmental regulation in some areas, such as the waste trade, and not in others. The book develops a framework emphasizing decision-making modes, which provide a more nuanced understanding compared to traditional EU theoretical approaches, of how EU actors make decisions. Using this approach, the work explores three environmental issue areas: transboundary air pollution, the carbon/energy tax proposal, and hazardous waste.