This book investigates the European Union (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.